{"id":235,"date":"2007-06-02T14:52:57","date_gmt":"2007-06-02T14:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php\/2007\/06\/02\/what_do_we_mean\/"},"modified":"2007-06-02T14:52:57","modified_gmt":"2007-06-02T14:52:57","slug":"what_do_we_mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"What do we mean by “Rich?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week’s edition of BRW<\/a> is another of
\nits so called ‘Flagship editions’. These editions invariable involve a list of
\nthe top so many of such and such. It was a landmark when they produced the first BRW
\n1000<\/a> list of the top 1000 companies in Australia. However, I’m getting
\na bit tired of what seems like every month they produce a new list of the "top"
\nwhatever. This time it is the Rich
\n200<\/a>. A list of Australia’s wealthiest people.<\/p>\n

It made me wonder what we mean by "rich" and why it matters to us so much?<\/p>\n

My current book is Phillip Yancey’s<\/a> volume Soul
\nSurvivor<\/a> (How my faith survived the Church.<\/em>). A book I highly recommend
\n– even if you are not interested in the concept of faith. Yancey writes about
\nhis journey of faith by reviewing the lessons he learned from the lives of people
\nhe has either met or he experienced through what they wrote or what was written
\nabout them. Chapters cover people such as Martin
\nLuther King Jnr.<\/a>, Leo
\nTolstoy<\/a>, Fyodor Dostoevsky, <\/a>Mahatma
\nGandhi<\/a> and C.
\nEverett Koop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In each case, Yancey both praises the contribution each made and clearly portrays
\neach person’s failures, complexities and personal dilemmas.<\/p>\n

While I have been rivetted by each chapter, the BRW Rich 200 made me think
\nof Gandhi. Here was a man who held no formal office, wore only a rough hand
\nwoven loin cloth and possessed only what he carried with him. Yet Gandhi almost
\ncertainly procurred the independence of the world’s second most populous nation
\nand profoundly influenced not only India, but the United States (through his
\ninfluence on King) and other parts of the world. Could any of us imagine how
\ndifferent the world would be today if Gandhi had never lived? In one hundred
\nyears will Kerry or James Packer even be remembered? Probably by some. Will
\nanyone regard their legacy as profoundly good for the world? <\/p>\n

Gandhi’s life challenges almost all of what we stand for in the West. When
\nwe compare our wealth with others we fret not that we are not wealthy, but
\nthat we are not as wealthy as someone else. <\/p>\n

Like Yancey, I found Gandhi’s life challenging. I like my gadgets. I write
\nthis on an Apple MacBook Pro 17<\/a> which
\ngoes with me everywhere and an iPod<\/a>. I have a mobile phone, a NextG<\/a> modem
\nwhich enables me to connect to the internet anywhere I am. I live a 200m2
\nhome and drive a new car. There a five computers in my house. I haven’t even
\nbegun to describe the extent of my posessions. Am I happier than Gandhi? Do
\nI feel more fulfilled? I can’t imagine doing what Gandhi did giving up posession
\nafter posession and living more and more simply. Living simply itself appeals
\nto me, but I can’t imagine myself taking even one hundreth of the steps Gandhi
\ntook to this end. <\/p>\n

This challenges me and I don’t know the answer to this as a personal dilemma.
\nHowever reading about Gandhi has brought home to me that acquiring more and
\nmore wealth is not going to make me happier. It has caused me to re-examine
\nmy personal and business goals. It has led me to think once more about how
\nI set my fees. I don’t know where this will lead me. This could sound trite
\nand self serving but I hope it doesn’t – "all I can say is that I am on my
\nown Spiral Path." <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s edition of BRW is another of its so called ‘Flagship editions’. These editions invariable involve a list of the top so many of such and such. It was a landmark when they produced the first BRW 1000 list of the top 1000 companies in Australia. However, I’m getting a bit tired of what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-purpose","category-wealth-and-poverty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriscurnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}