When you are hopefully 80, I doubt you are going to be counting your money. The most self made and wealthiest man I have known in life died in his 60’s. He knew he was going to die within a very specific window of time. He was terminally ill. During that time he didn’t care about acquiring more money; he just wanted more time and a better relationship with his kids. The money he had acquired ruined his relationship with his kids and eventually ruined, everyone associated with his monies, relationships with each other after he passed. It is tragic because nobody listened to his dying message – it’s not how much money you have but how you make your money and what do you do with the time you have.
How many people have to waste their lives and focus on consumption before we start to grasp the real things of value – time and connection? We keep reinventing the light bulb generation after generation. Documentation is at an all time high and available quicker and more completely than ever before. Why are we not learning? Seeing the pain of loss in others and the regrets of the old makes me appreciate what I have right now. I am learning, I am not waiting until I am old, I am embracing it all right now because I don’t want to wish when I am 90, I want to celebrate.
Brian Wright