whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. ~ oscar wilde

someone told me the the other day, that what we all should strive for is financial liberation. get one great idea, and put it into motion, and let the money work for you.

and the thought of this did not exactly sit well with me. he tells me that just one great idea set into motion, and we can just sit back and reap the harvests. and in reality, that’s what a lot of rich people do. set up something big, then just makan angin with profits and extended holidays. the more he spoke, the more i get disturbed.

you see, imagine that world where we can all sit back and be liberated from financial hard work. that we all set in place one brilliant enough mechanism and we can all cuti without worrying about our pockets. and to make this a life mission? to come up with that one awesome idea that will free us from working like a donkey our whole lives?

and i cannot put my finger quite on it. i believe in hard, honest work. of course i would like to be all loaded and take that trip around the world in style, see all the great places, taste all the best food and dress up richly in the best threads [RIP alexander mcqueen]. but i would like to know that i earned every bit of all of it. and i’m not saying that i would not appreciate all the luxuries if a bag of gold coins suddenly falls onto my lap. all i am saying is that i think the whole blood, sweat and tears thing is important, you know. this is my bread. i earned it. i want to be able to say that.

and i know all this makes me sound old fashioned and conservative. i know a lot of friends who has gone into multi level marketing, which i personally strongly disagree with, so don’t even think of approaching me with your products or memberships because i will scream at you, man i really will.

some time ago, PB, SR and i were having one of those philosophically charged lunches and we talked about what we would want to be if money was not the object. say you suddenly inherit like a gazillion bucks and you never have to work again for the rest of your life. and you have taken all the holidays and all and you are bored and need to fill time with something that will make you happy. and the choice is for you to be anything at all. what would you be?

i would be a gardener. and plant flowers.