The Western world seems to be structured around money, the making of money, and the value of that money. Therefore, there are many people, that see their value being fairly reflected by the assets that they have or don’t have. This sort of viewpoint is corrupt, for to value one’s self solely by the coin of the realm, does nothing to value the true worth of a human being and their corresponding character. It is a grand mistake to believe that our value is tied to our material worth, and therefore that our utility to society should be based solely upon whether we are net contributors to society by the assets that we have or the money that we have in our possession or control.
The fact that so many of us, are judged, fairly or not, by our material assets, demonstrates a society that doesn’t have its priorities right. The better way to value anyone is whether or not they are contributing in a wholesome way to the society that they are an active member of, along with whether or not their character represents positive traits, such as generosity, compassion, sincerity, honesty, and helpfulness. That is to say, we should not be judged by what we earn or have but rather we should be judged as to whether we are doing our fair part to help make society a better place for our contribution to it.
Yet, because Western nations, inundate us with all sorts of advertisements and try to make the point, again and again, that happiness comes from material objects that we obtain or the appreciative acceptance that we seemingly get from others who want what we have, thus creates not only an ongoing tension between members of society but also means that the default structure of capitalist nations, represents not a society founded upon our collaboration and cooperation with one another but rather seems to prefer that we see this world, as a competitive sport, so judged as to whether or not, we have played the game well, demonstrated by the material assets that we have.
In truth, what we earn through our labor and the amount of assets that we have accumulated, does not reflect whether we are a good person or not, but rather simply represents the pay that we receive and the wealth we have accumulated, that is in our possession. To have money and to make a good salary, has its value, mainly because many material things require money in order for us to have ownership of such. However, in the scheme of things, what we really need, is often a much smaller subset of what we either perceive that we need or reflects our pursuit that the accumulation of ever more material things equates to more happiness, which to the degree that this takes us away from being a good person, is a serious mistake.
In sum, what we are, is reflected in our character, so lived out by our interactions, day by day, recognizing that how we treat one another, and how we care about the other, has lasting purpose; whereas, what we earn or have, should be seen as a sideshow, and no more.