Our true original sin

The way I see it, money is the ultimate temptation.

I think about this when I hear folks talk about the dangers of sex, drugs, gender, critical race theory or whatever else it is “we” are hating on for the moment.

Money is more addictive than any drug and more divisive than any theory. Money, or rather the hoarding of money, is what got us famine, wars, climate injustice, and refugee-crises. If you want to solve almost any of the “intractable” issues we are grappling with as a human collective, abolishing the ability to hoard wealth would be a good start.

And so I hold this constant fear that greed could take over my brain. I see it all around me. The wealthier people are, the more they tend to hold onto their wealth. I have met folks living in slums more generous than your average philanthropist, in relative terms. And with fewer qualms about the use of their gifts.

At the same time, I also have a deep-seated fear of losing the independence that comes with a steady income and — if you live in the US you’ll understand this — health insurance. The older I get, the more I worry about ill health and inability to work, and for good reason. I am statistically more likely to have to use my health insurance now than I was at age 30. There is a reason the premium is more than twice as expensive now.

My brain toggles between those two fears, knowing that some part of each is irrational. Money, after all, is a common and (in itself) neutral tool of exchange. The problem is not money, but the things we use it for.

Or put another way: the problem is our value-system, not the fact that we use money to express it.

How do I know this, you ask? I know because the growth-for-growth’s-sake mentality creeps into every new monetary system we come up with, regardless of the original intent (see: cryptocurrency). I know because, hour-for-hour, care work is valued ten times less than financial investment work in every single country I have ever visited. I know because we routinely divest from art, beauty, and unstructured time to invest in weapons. I know, because I am human.

And if you think about it, you know too.

We all need an attitude adjustment about the things we value and why. Money is the least of it.