Originally Posted by Tricia Baker
I was an "millionaire heiress" as a teenager. I never had to work because the large trust fund paid weekly bonuses from the interest it was drawing. My childhood was ruined by shopping, excess and fake friends. To this day, I can't stand the smell of cash and jewelry hurts my eyes to look at it. I won't wear anything but faux fur now, because of the trauma I have suffered over the years. Paris Hilton has nothing on me. My life was so full of wealth and privilege I still need therapy some days.

smile



Hey Tricia, I hate to see a good girl "suffer" like that! I guess it demonstrates a good point though: that we can never predict where tyranny is hiding. Too little money enslaves one by limited choices; and too much money can do the same.

I have been listening to Charlton Heston reading Emanuel Kant this week. Kant was an 18th Century German philosopher best known for his "Critique of Pure Reason". His contention is that it is impossible to determine absolute moral law; that the best we can do is to be true to ourselves; and that when we establish our moral principles, and can honestly say that by living them we would be comfortable if they were a "natural law", then we come as close as we can to validating moral principle, and we will live with "self respect". I really connected with that because we all go through life not completely sure what is absolutely right or wrong in the external world. But if we just look inside and find for ourselves what seems to be the moral law in ourselves, we gain self respect. For Kant, self respect was the highest achievement of man. Tricia, when you we living the life of privileged, you were unhappy because it violated your inner since of self respect. And Paris Hilton is an example of someone who is a victim and her lack of "self respect". It is so well documented that it has become a National joke. All the young girls who think that being rich and famous is the ultimate achievement secretly know better and even their desire to "be like Paris" is evidence of their lack of knowledge of themselves. Emanuel Kant said he was in awe of two things in nature- the magnificence of the night sky and the magnificence of the inner moral law. He spent a lifetime coming to that conclusion so I think he is on to something important.

I have a sister who went from abject poverty after the suicide of her first
husband to enormous wealth. I think that is a psychologically healthier situation when one has built wealth (it took about 10 years) but still it has it's hazards because it doesn't take long for someone to take for granted the gift they have. My sister is generous and grateful but she wears a Rolex, dives a Beamer, has and airplane and several houses etc. The difference may be that if she lost it all tomorrow, she would still be the same person. He husband may have a tougher time because he was born to privilege. But they are both wonderful people. And even though they will pay more taxes because of their vote, they both voted for Obama.

But back to to point- maybe Not having a job is the worst job!

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein