I have a wee son that is almost six years old. This evening, he and I had an interesting conversation. I find children to be fascinating - mostly everything they say is at face value and often gives me pause for thought.

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So my wee man came into my office this evening and said, “Daddy, do you know why I love money so much?”

Now, to put this in context, the “wee man” has been allowed to observe the world without judgment and I’ve made my own efforts to let him learn on his own while trying to teach him things - but not wanting to put my own biases on the knowledge he absorbs.

I asked him, “Why do you love money so much, son?”

He replied forthrightly, “Because I can buy stuff with it!”

Many of us have been taught that the love of money is the “root of all evil.” Some have even suggested that “money alone” - not just the love of money - is the root of all evil. And I suppose you can think what you want about money, but I’m sure if you think that it is anything about “evil,” then you don’t understand basic economics or even understand anything about your own labour.

In reality, money does not exist. You cannot point to any object and call it “money” and know that it will always be “money.” Money is simply a human concept applied to any object, whether it is a piece of paper with serial numbers on it issued by some government, or it could be pieces of gold, or even corn cobs.

Money is nothing more than some value we put on some unit(s) of an object, and we agree has some value. That’s all it is.

Personally, it’s all very subjective as well. A one dollar bill might have enormous value to someone in a place called Nairobi, but little value to someone in a place called Hollywood. And to someone in Hollywood, a Maserati might have enormous value, but to a person in a place called Nairobi, a Maserati means very little.

Any currency is nothing more than some representation of the value of your labour to someone else and what they are willing to trade, and your agreement that your labour is worth what the other thinks it is. It can never be totally objective nor totally subjective. And this is where most folk get it wrong. Except for children, it seems.

There is nothing wrong with wanting something. Indeed, the very idea of “want” is what has lead us to modern miracles such as heart transplants, dishwashers, clothes washers instead of the old washboards that would wrangle and destry a mom’s fingers every week.

What we decide to spend - which is nothing more than the amount of our labour that is valued by others - determines the personal worth of an item or service.

Indeed, it is not the love of money that is evil at all! It is the wish that all items and services were priced and valued at the value YOU want them to be priced at so you could have it all, regardless of any efforts you make.

What is evil are those that think that they should be the beneficiaries of another person’s labor.

It’s funny to me, because so many adults don’t seem to get that. Yet my little almost six year old does, and is constantly coming up with ways that he could “earn” money so that he can get the Lego set that comes out on the shelves of Walmart.

If you’re one of the folks that have always thought of “money being the root of evil,” I’d ask you to logically question your own beliefs. I actually do not “love money,” but am quite thrilled when the actions and efforts that I make are apparently, of some value to someone else.

How about you?

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