A Letter To Money
Dear Money
I woke up this morning thinking about you. That is not unusual
for me. Over the years I have awakened many mornings thinking
about you but this morning it was different.
Sweet Money, I have always loved you or thought I loved you. As
a small child I became fascinated with you. I was told that you
were dirty and evil and that you didn't grow on trees, but
somehow deep in my heart I knew none of that was true.
>From the time of my very first piggy bank I wanted to have more
and more of you and there were many times in my life when you
finally did arrive in large amounts and I would clutch you to my
heart the way two lovers do when they have been apart for a very
long time and they are reunited once again. I would hold onto
you tightly never wanting to let you go away again, but you
always did. It was inevitable that you would. You would sneak
out in the middle of the night with lame excuses. Bills, debts
and obligations would take you away from me - so you would say.
Little by little I would watch you disappear right before my
very eyes until there was nothing left of you, or me for that
matter.
I felt abandoned by you, afraid and so alone once again and I
would hate you and curse you and cry out for you in vain.
I would watch you with other people parading yourself around
them, showering them with your bounty and this confused me so
much more. I wanted you, lived for you, longed for you. They
were so unattached and yet, you wanted them. I was filled with
resentment, rage and anger at what appeared to be such
insensitivity on your part.
At that point in my life, I would have done just about anything
to keep you, much like those desperate women I would watch on my
daily soap opera who would lie and steal and cheat and
manipulate to hold onto their man. I was willing to do that for
you, to sacrifice myself in any way I thought I had to, just to
keep you near me. I am not proud of any of it and in the end it
never worked for very long. I only succeeded in pushing away the
very thing I wanted most in the world. And then there finally
came a time when I just wanted to learn more about you, what
makes you tick, how you feel, where you've been, what it was
like and where you're going. I wanted to know why some people
had so much of you and others you kept eluding.
Dearest Money, you have seen more of the world than I probably
ever will and touched more people than I will ever know in this
lifetime.
Tell me, dear one, what is it like to watch the sun go down on
Galway Bay, or linger over a blue Hawaiian sunset, sip deep red
Italian wine in Tuscany and flaunt yourself in every store on
Rodeo Drive?
What does it feel like to be held in the hand of a billionaire
tycoon or kiss the palm of a homeless man? How does it feel to
live in a castle or sit in a hovel in the greasy clutch of a
drunken sailer?
What do you think about as you are lying on the ground waiting
for someone to find you and take you to your next adventure? How
many lovers have you had in this lifetime? How many liftetimes
have you had on the planet? How many dreams have you made come
true? How many wishes have you granted? What is it like to be
someone's fairy godmother? Did you enjoy waking up under
someone's pillow?
What does it feel like to have books written about you, songs
sung about you, companies come and go because of you, deals made
in seedy backrooms with you stuffed tightly into dusty old
briefcases, people killed for you, women selling their souls for
you, men trading their hearts for you, children used in your
name?
What does it feel like to know that you have the capacity to
uplift the world or destroy it in a single moment should you get
into the wrong hands? What have you so skillfully taught us
about ourselves and each other through the beauty and splendor
that you are?
What stories can you tell me dear heart from your travels? What
blessings and miracles and treasures have you bestowed upon
innocent souls. What desperation and unspeakable darkness have
you witnessed along the way.
Beloved Money, tell me everything! I want to know it all. I want
to know you, understand you, BE you!
Come, sit with me. Bring all of your friends with you, the plain
ones and the beautiful ones, the green ones and the colorful
ones, the crisp ones and the shiny ones. We will be together as
dear old friends, hearts open and exposed. Bring them all. And
together we will sit and talk, and laugh and cry, at the
absurdity of it all and marvel at the wonder and the magic.
Come close, Dear Money, and whisper your secrets into my ear.
Fear not, for I love you now with a love more profound than I
have ever known.