Money

Money, as I see it, is a means to an end.  It's been said that money can't buy happiness, and this by itself is true.  But say you can afford to eat well, to educate yourself or your children to ensure success later in life, or to take a relaxing vacation with someone important to you.  The money isn't buying the happiness, but it certain helps provide the opportunity for good memories and to provide others a better life than they may have otherwise. 

Lack of money can bring pain and suffering, though so can too much.  Wealth is not a measure of happiness, just a measure of how much money you have.  And if you have money, what does it do?  You can spend it on things, invest it to make more money, et cetera.  But it doesn't actually do anything. 

Those who inherit wealth count themselves lucky, but happiness doesn't always result.  So how are they lucky?

Those who earn wealth themselves through hard work and dedication often know the value of a dollar, and what things cannot be valued in dollars.  Friends, family, loved ones.

People are what's important in life.  A man can be measured by those he leaves behind, and whatever money he had is a distant second.  Placing money over people is a sure way to lose sight of what is truly important. 

Money is a tool, like a hammer or a saw, among may others we have developed since we came down from the trees.  It can build, it can destroy, and it can sit unused in a dusty box.  Like any tool, what matters is the person who wields it, regardless of amount.  Money itself is not evil, nor good.  It has no opinion on the subject.

Money is a means by which people interact.  It's just a middleman in the ancient barter system, a standard value for time or goods.  Without it we would, with a period of adjustment, simply proceed as human civilization has done before, trading goods and services directly.  Not to advocate the abolishment of standard currency, of course.  Anything that would cause the immediate devaluation of any currency would likely be catastrophic in other ways as well.  Alas, Babylon for instance.  Nuclear war launched the modern US into what was essentially a pre-industrial society without the benefit of pre-industrial skilled labor.

So basically money is a social lubricant.  It helps maintain the machine of human society with reduced friction, though like any machine there is no chance of completely frictionless movement.  There are wealthy bastards and poor saints. 

If we as a species ever move beyond greed and self-centered action, then the world may indeed be a better place (I challenge you to define 'better').  But then I believe we would no longer be what we now recognize as human.  Humanity (which will likely become a theme of these writings) is flawed and dirty, with stains of war and genocide, as well as polished surfaces of peace and achievement. 

To believe otherwise is to deny ourselves the ability to recognize us for what we are: Human.  Nothing more, nothing less.  And really, I wouldn't have it any other way.