"It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people."
-- Logan Pearsall Smith
Sez who?!
If Logan is tired of rich people, what stops him from packing a suitcase and getting an apartment in the cheap end of town?
OK, I suspect this is in fact a witticism from Mr. Smith, but like all good wit, it's based on a truth. And I'm always amazed at the now-I'm-supposed-to's that people will willingly enslave themselves to. They'll do something just because that's-what-you-do.
Just for one example, often you'll see somebody who has a goal and a lifestyle which is completely anathema to getting and supporting a family, but who nevertheless gets one anyway.
If he did that he'd be accused of slumming.
ReplyDelete-Brian H.
But nobody has to know he's rich wherever he chooses to go, or he could simply socialize with a different crowd. Yes, there's social stigmas surrounding many of his possible choices, but the fact remains that if he really wants to do something there's nothing that can stop him.
ReplyDeleteSo, living a lie is your suggestion? Lying to everyone he'd socialize with, maybe become friends with? That's a great way to go through life. He wouldn't have anything in common with them, anyway. That's the point.
ReplyDelete-B.H.
Well, if we accept the premise that none of his potential friends could live with the fact that he is rich, he could simply not mention it. And be vague if ever asked. Lots of people don't like discussing money anyway, so nothing unusual there.
ReplyDelete"He wouldn't have anything in common with them, anyway. That's the point."
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like he had anything in common with rich folk. Money by itself doesn't change anything. If it's the much of a burden, give it away! It's better than being miserable in the company of people you don't like. Money, or lack thereof, doesn't make you who you are. You're not living a lie by deciding not to follow the conventional path of a rich person. I thought the whole point of being rich was to be independent, to have the ability to do as you wish. Anything that becomes a cage just isn't worth it.
The Cobbler and The Financier - La Fontaine.
ReplyDelete"So, living a lie is your suggestion?"
Well I think the likes of Paris Hilton are living nothing but one long, tinsel-laden glossy paper lie, coke-sniffing rot concealed under silk...
But not even they have ambergris in their bowels.
Only the very poor can be as unhappy as the very rich... for completely opposite reasons!