SciFi Multiverse

Wealth over freedom

In my church department, about 90% of us are young adults, and some of us are married. So, whenever the topic of "money cannot buy happiness" comes up, the percentage of people who kick against it is usually high. One day, one of the married men in our midst, who is very young and well-to-do, decided to lecture us on the importance of the saying "money cannot buy happiness." After he illustrated a lot of things that were very relatable, and we could come back to our senses and agree that money cannot buy happiness, we would still say that he was saying that because he had experienced wealth. We would want to experience the kind of wealth he had seen before we could buy into the idea that money cannot buy happiness.

This brings me to my answer to this prompt, which asks us to choose just one between wealth and freedom. As much as I understand the importance of absolute rest and freedom, which is what I am integrating into my daily life, I would choose wealth over freedom.

I haven't tasted wealth to its fullest, and I really want to experience what it feels like to be wealthy, where I wouldn't need to worry about anything that money can take care of. I know being wealthy comes with a lot of responsibilities, especially the responsibility of maintaining that wealth at a consistent level so that it doesn't fade away, as well as the troubles that come with it. But still, I would choose to be wealthy and experience these responsibilities.

Come to think of it, even in the low state I am in now, the responsibilities and pressures have been high, and I've been finding ways to balance everything and keep living. This is the same skill I'm sure I would apply to help me cope with the responsibilities that come with being wealthy.

Oftentimes, I come across posts by Tony Elumelu, one of the wealthiest men in Nigeria, and even though I have a little sense of the kind of pressure that comes his way, he doesn't look like someone who is under such pressure at all. In fact, he travels around the world while his employees handle the hurdles for him. I want to be on that level.

Thanks for reading.

Photo: Chatgpt

Comments · 2

@melissa25(54)· 2h
I supprt your choice, wealth over freedom. Let's have the lesson ealth first and see if we won't be happy and free
@cryptmastern(56)· 5h
The church's story is interesting. It’s very human that we can’t appreciate something unless we’ve experienced its opposite. The young adults in the church aren’t wrong to be skeptical — when you’re struggling, hearing “money doesn’t buy happiness” from someone who has money feels like the ultimate privilege disconnect.

I think you are right to choose wealth, but with a twist: wealth buys a certain kind of freedom. Not complete liberty, but freedom from the daily grind of subsistence. It’s not just money that separates your situation from Tony Elumelu, it’s leverage. He doesn’t have more hours in the day, he has people dealing with the problems so he can focus on growth. That’s what wealth really buys, the time and expertise of other people.

The responsibility you speak of is not the keeping of the wealth, it is the wielding of influence. When you have money you have more impact on people. That’s the pressure Elumelu deals with so well. He doesn have less pressure. He just has better systems to deal with it.

Interesting view. Most people romanticize freedom because they’ve never seen what wealth can actually unlock.