Riley and Sarah

One evening last week I had some time to kill and stopped in at the McNally Robinson. As I browsed the shelves I came across a book entitled, “The Money-less Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living”. The title intrigued me.

As I flipped through the first few pages I was hooked. I ended up standing in the isle captivated by the first chapter. The author seemed to have a gift for taking complex topics and simplifying them into language that I could understand.

As he spoke about the origin of money and how it has shaped our society he made a connection between money and security.

When asked “what makes you feel secure” most people would probably say something like, “knowing I have enough money that if something unpredictable happened to me, I’d be okay”. This seems like a pretty standard answer and I would agree that money can bring security. However, the author challenged me with the idea that money doesn’t have to be the only source of security.

What if you could feel secure amidst a genuine community? If something unpredictable were to happen in your life are there people who would support you with no questions asked and not expecting anything in return? Perhaps that’s the key; not expecting anything in return. If you knew something was expected of you in return, the giver wouldn’t really be providing genuine security. In the future you may have the opportunity to return the favour, only it might be for a different community member; pay it forward. We all have gifts and abilities to share, the question is whether we share them for truly unselfish reasons.

Often I think money controls our lives. But if we could create genuine community built on pure generosity – no strings attached – maybe money would lose some of its grip on our lives. 

Cheers,

Riley