This post was inspired by Danes’ post of the same title. I’m quoting her entire post here because it’s that awesome:
1. So I don’t have to worry about not having it.
2. So I can help people out. [Idea: Library/study place for students, since we have really crappy or few libraries.]
3. So I can do the things I really want to do. If I want to stop working and just read for three months straight, YES I CAN. FYEAH. If I want to walk where Julie Delpy did in Before Sunset, YES I CAN.
4. It buys me time, to a certain extent.
5. It will enable me to do super awesome things [e.g. do all of the things on the GISHWHES List, if I wanted to] which will likely include charitable activities.
How can it be a bad thing to want money? It isn’t. You might be referring to greed instead.
My reaction to her post was “This, this, and THIS!!!” and followed by “Like like MEGA LIKE :D” on her Facebook page. Having been raised by a capitalist – my mother sold underwear to her classmates in college before starting something that eventually grew into a multimillion peso corporation – I firmly believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with having money and wanting to have more of it. More than anything else, having more money means having more opportunities. If I had more money, I’d be able to buy out my scholarship and travel more. If I had more money, I’d be able to donate even more to charity. Money is a very useful thing to have and something that can bring about a whole lot of good.
The problem is that money’s bad reputation came about because of greed, not a want of money. Those are two entirely different things. Once money becomes an end instead of a means – that’s greed. So don’t be put off if I sometimes talk about business or investing. That’s just me ensuring that I have the money to live comfortably, that my (future) husband and I will be able to provide all the things (and hopefully more) that my parents were able to give me.