JE N´AIME PAS L’ARGENT

Et voilà qu’au moment même où j’écris le titre de mon nouveau sujet , que je reçois un appel de Winnipeg, Manitoba, pour me dire que je fais partie d’un concours qui risque de me faire gagner 5 millions de dollars.

Je mets aussitôt au travail les raisons qui justifient mon sujet. Ce Monsieur Larson  est choqué de m’entendre dire que je n’aime pas l’argent. Je lui ai dit que voilà une semaine, j’ai rêvé que j’ai gagné $500 millions à la loterie et que j’ai passé plusieurs heures à me demander que faire avec tout cet argent. En fin de compte, j’ai décidé de donner 400 millions à une centaine de charités, dont je connais plus de la moitié, vue que je leur donne tous les mois un petit montant.

Il me félicite de penser ainsi et souhaite persévérer dans notre conversation, à quoi je lui dis qu’un  autre appel vient d’arriver et que je lui parlerai plus tard.

Revenons à notre sujet.
En effet, je reconnais que cette petite phrase est hors du commun.  Combien  pensent comme moi? Je doute qu’il y en ait plusieurs car généralement le monde aime et souhaite toujours avoir de l’argent. Et ils ont raison car cela leur permet de vivre plus confortablement et se permettre ce qu’ils souhaitent.
Pourquoi pense-je différemment?

Et pourtant, je me souviens qu’à deux occasions, lorsque je m’attendais à recevoir une commission de $2000 et que celle-ci ne m’a pas été payée, j’étais choqué. J’en ai voulu à ces patrons qui m’ont privé de cet avoir. Comment m’expliquer ce choc lorsque je prétends ne pas aimer l’argent?

J’ai pourtant appris de Claude Monet que l’argent n’achète pas la classe.  Alors que Paul Morand, lui, a bien dit que les seules satisfactions que procure l’argent sont la vanité. Et Dieu sait si je m’écarte de ce mot. Il me rappelle un passage dans un film ce Claude Chabrol, Docteur Popaul, quand Jean Paul Belmondo dit: j’en ai assez d’être aimé pour moi-même, j’aimerai être aimé pour mon argent. 
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Je me souviens d’un passage sympathique lorsque Louis XV a demandé au maréchal de Saxe: Que faut-il pour gagner la guerre? Le dernier répondit: Sire , trois choses, de l’argent, de l’argent, de l’argent.

Un autre mot sympathique, celui là de Jean D’Ormesson quand il écrit: Nous nous battions pour trois choses qui font tourner le monde: les femmes, l’argent et le pouvoir
Ce même D’Ormesson considère que l’argent est un divertissement, comme la guerre, le voyage, la religion, la peinture, la musique, l’architecture et même le savoir et enfin la mort. L’auteur poursuit avec une autre dimension: « Maintenant chaque homme à son sommeil. L’argent est un soleil. La littérature est un soleil. L’Etat est un soleil. L’art est un soleil. L’avenir est un soleil ».

Bien avant lui, Benjamin Franklin nous avait  dit : Rappelez-vous que le temps c’est de l’argent. D’autres n’étaient pas d’accord disant que le temps ce n’est pas de l’argent. Le temps c’est un don à recevoir et chaque minute un cadeau à goûter. Cela s’appelle de la patience.

I DON'T LIKE MONEY

And now, as I am writing the title of my new topic, I get a call from Winnipeg, Manitoba, telling me that I am part of a contest that could win me $5 million.

I immediately set to work on the reasons for my story. Mr. Larson was shocked to hear me say that I didn't like money. I told him that a week ago I had a dream that I won $500 million in the lottery and spent several hours wondering what to do with all that money. In the end, I decided to give 400 million to a hundred charities, of which I know more than half, since I give them a small amount every month.

He congratulated me for thinking this way and wanted to continue our conversation, to which I told him that another call had just come in and that I would talk to him later.

Let's get back to the topic at hand.
Indeed, I recognize that this little sentence is out of the ordinary.  How many people think like me? I doubt that there are many, because generally the world loves and always wants to have money. And they are right because it allows them to live more comfortably and afford what they want.
Why do I think differently?

And yet, I remember that on two occasions, when I expected to receive a $2000 commission and it was not paid to me, I was shocked. I resented those bosses who deprived me of this asset. How can I explain this shock when I claim not to like money?

Yet I learned from Claude Monet that money does not buy class.  Paul Morand, on the other hand, said that the only satisfaction money brings is vanity. And God knows if I deviate from this word. It reminds me of a passage in a film by Claude Chabrol, Docteur Popaul, when Jean Paul Belmondo says: I'm tired of being loved for myself, I would like to be loved for my money.

I remember a nice passage when Louis XV asked the Marshal of Saxe: What is needed to win the war? The latter answered: Sire, three things, money, money, money.

Another nice word, this one from Jean D'Ormesson when he wrote: We were fighting for three things that make the world go round: women, money and power
This same D'Ormesson considers that money is an entertainment, like war, travel, religion, painting, music, architecture and even knowledge and finally death. The author continues with another dimension: "Now every man has his sleep. Money is a sun. Literature is a sun. The state is a sun. Art is a sun. The future is a sun.

Long before him, Benjamin Franklin told us: Remember that time is money. Others disagreed, saying that time is not money. Time is a gift to be received and every minute a gift to be savored. It is called patience.

I can't believe it! If the world knew what the New Testament (Timothy 6:19) said: "For the love of money is the root of all evil", and Ecclesiastes: "He who loves money is not satisfied with money".

I recognize that money is that convention by which men make exchanges. That money is a saving that we put aside in order to have it in front of us, thus ensuring our backs. It is sad to realize that when it comes time to pay your taxes, you realize that you can't afford the money you earn. And it was my dear cousin Paul Zafrani who discovered while reading Christine D'éviers Joncour that "It's true that money is the engine that drives all the inequalities we experience."

It is with regret that I will raise this point so real: In our society of consumption and savings, a man who has money is a man considered. A man who does not have money is also a man who is considered, but he is a poor man.
 Moreover, if money were not so overrated, it would be valued less. And
to disdain money is to be unselfish, especially when it is the money one owes.

We can consider that in spite of everything, money has certain advantages. One of them is this word of P.T. Barnum: "Money is in some respects the fire of life: it is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.
Don't we realize that the life of earning money is done under duress, and wealth is obviously not the good we seek, for according to Aristotle, it is only useful and for something else.

When it comes to achievement or success we remember that since the days of Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt, Americans have taken the accumulation of vast sums of money as a sign of success, and that there are all sorts of yardsticks we can use to measure success for ourselves and others. Money, fame, goodness, talent, virtue, love and kindness to others - all serve as a framework for our achievements. These words are from the book: "Success: What it Means and Why It Matters.The Epoch Times Jan 12-18/2022, written by Jeff Minic"

I was recently reading a rather interesting book: "The Happiest Man on Earth" written by Eddie Jaku , who recounts his life during World War II. He made a parallel between money and family and I report here his words: "There are many things in this world that no amount of money can buy, and some things are priceless. Family first, family second, and family last.

The same Jaku added: This is the purpose of life. To share your good fortune.  My father used to say that there is more pleasure in giving than in taking, the important things in life - friends, family, kindness - are much more precious than money.

I could end this writing with two small conclusions: The first is that we console ourselves when we are told that true wealth is health and not gold or silver coins. The second is that happiness and satisfaction must ultimately come from within man himself. It is wrong to expect final satisfaction from money or a computer.

I will add, to my great regret, that if I have never been rich, it is because I did not like money. As if it were saying to me: "What's the point of giving it to you if you don't like it".

 

I wonder if reading everything I just wrote about money will give you a different opinion than the one you had before.