The Sh#% Your Parents Should Tell You

Don't be Poor. Don't be Rich.

Don't be poor.

Also.

Don't be rich.

Don't be poor because it legit sucks to have to worry where your next meal is coming from or if you're going to have shelter tomorrow or that you might freeze to death in your own home because you have no heat. No one on this planet should ever have to suffer through any of that not only because it is inexcusably inhumane, but because we have the resources to prevent it.

Don't be rich(1) because to become rich somewhere along the line you have to be an asshole.

To achieve great wealth, you have to disregard the needs of others. You have to support an economic system that actively exploits people and causes widespread suffering.

Or at the very least, you'll have weaseled out of paying your fair share of taxes.

In other words, you have to close your eyes to your privilege and behave as if you are the sole author of your success when none of us is.

None of us has earned everything we have; we've all gotten some kind of help from somewhere, built on the work of others, depended on infrastructure, been given a chance. More important, there's more than enough on this planet to share. We can provide the basics for everyone.

And believe it or not, we feel better when we do.

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1. By rich I mean crazy rich, like a mansion and a yacht rich, like I need a separate house for my 15 cars rich, like I wipe my nose with $100 bills rich, like I'm depressed because one of my dozen house staff just quit rich. I know in some areas of the country (i.e. most major metropolitan areas) having a couple of million in the bank doesn't mean you're rich, it just means you're really, really comfortable.