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Re: money and life
In a message dated Fri, 12 Jul 2002 7:42:39 AM Eastern Standard Time, shadow at teuton_org writes:
>
>
> On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 Ysobelle at aol_com wrote:
>
>
> > Rhys, my Adoration,
>
> wow! either ysoie adores me (: or i adore her... what could possibly bet
> better (except for a plane to ID)... six days (: i have *got* to meet you.
>
Well, golly!(blush) And here I was thinking the same of you. I love high heels, though-- is that okay? And we all know I havea thing for boots. But usually I wear sandals from April through September, and I do often kick 'em off under the desk. So maybe that gives me a sort of null balance?
> > the unfortunate answer is that money, in our culture, equals power and
> > ease. It is possible to be powerful and poor, but highly unlikely,
> > unless one is speaking of a different kind of power, such as the power
> > inherent in words or love.
>
> true. i think, though that the argument could be made that any culture
> with a currency has the same viewpoint (money == power for greater values
> of money)
>
I think that's valid-- a barter system society has a vastly different feel from a money-based economy. Not that I have a ton of experience with the former, but I do know that it's a very different transaction when I do something for money as opposed to goods or services. I'm currently getting a website for some stage managing/costume designing/scriptwriting work I did, and while it would be simpler to get paid in money, I'd only have to turn that around and spend it on hiring someone to help me with the site. Having said that, I have to admit I've had more-than-passing thoughts that I wish I'd just gotten paid and walked away-- y'all remember my "Rhapsodie" story? Yeah. Him.
Working things out in barter is necessarily a more organic, complex, and emotionally involved transaction than simply paying the price on the sticker. Perhaps it's no more than my Ugly American, Isn't-That-Quaint cultural ignorance talking; millions of people all over the world live their lives with that system: merely because I don't doesn't mean I can presume to know how it feels as a societal way of life. But it does seem that actual currency disconnects us from the things we're buying and selling, and the people involved. For example, at the Faire last weekend, a jeweler across the path from me wanted to trade a corset of mine for some of her work. If we work that trade, I won't be out the money I need for my rent or my electric bill, and I won't have the associated guilt I would have had had I simply bought her work. And perhaps just as satisfying for me, I'll feel like it's an exchange between equals: I find her work stunning, and wow, what do you know? She thinks the !
same of mine! I don't get that with a one-way, monetary transaction with the guy down at the store who also has no connection with the prepackaged goods that run the register behind which he stands.
> > But most people don't want that. They want the power that means they
> > can do what they want, go where they want, wear what they want, be who
> > they want. And for that, nothing else will do but that you have a
> > great deal of money.
>
> hm. i guess. (:
>
> i guess the rest of us regular folk have to bo content with *almost* being
> able to do what we want,w ear what we want, etc.
>
Well, sometimes the challenge is to do so without the money that makes it easier. And we all do it: do what we can with what we have. And I think, within reason, we all respect and get a kick out of those who manage to buck the system more spectacularly than we do-- like, for instance, a certain band who manages to do glorious work and put out fabulous CDs without the huge rock-star budgets that seem to be de rigeur amongst their more pyrotechnic boy/girl band counterparts. Not, obviously, that you can't be a good songwriter/performer without money, but I think America at least is trained that you can't be considered successful unless you need seven trailers to haul your lighting rigs from Chicago to Miami.
> > Either that, or be a Goth back-end administrator in Boston.
>
> ooo - that sounds like too much fun (:
>
You think? I can prolly put you in touch with a couple people in that particular underworld. Sometimes, I think I'd live (which I meant to say as "love" but it's a typo I'll leave in)to work somewhere I could have burgundy hair and wear the chain in my nose. I wore the chain into my store once when I wasn't working-- I thought I'd have to call maintenance to clear out the bodies.
> > And money can't buy love, but it creates the feeling-- real or
> > illusory-- that life will be easier and more enjoyable with s/he who
> > posesses it. Though, as some of us know all too well, a
> guy can have a
> > great job and still be a raging, hugless bastard.
>
> true again. you're so wise.
>
No, just bitterly experienced. And it's not like I'm the first to say such things-- as Liesel will attest. Not even the first today. Prolly not even the first within a hundred-yard radius.
Man, I HAVE to stop hanging out on the Goth list....
> can i be like you? (:
>
> rhys
Again, I was just thinking the same about you. (Grin!)
Warm fuzzies for the house, and buy the bartender a double....
Ysoie
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