I promise never to be a millionaire. I bet you haven’t heard that before!
If all goes as planned, I will die with almost no money to my name. I’m dedicated to a life of service, and being a millionaire is not a part of that equation for me. I will not be a millionaire by any financial standard, unless you re-think what it means to be a millionaire…. Perhaps when I die someone could add up all the value that I brought to the world, the vegetables grown from the gardens I built and the millions of seeds I gave freely, the fruit from all the Community Fruit Trees I planted, the community programs I helped to start, the money I raised for grassroots nonprofits, and so on, and perhaps it would add up to millions of dollars in value. De-centralized value that is spread out for the good of humanity… Now that’s my kind of millionaire. That’s something I could stand truly proud of. I refuse to measure my worth by what I have, but rather, what I have given to better the lives of others.
It’s not about money. It’s about living a life of deep moral and ethical values and living for the benefit of the earth, our communities, and ourselves. And typically, I haven’t seen huge sums of money to be a beneficial tool in living a life of that manner. Nope, instead I see it as a tool that leads to wanting more and more and more, typically at the burden to others and the earth. I see people with the best intentions lose sight of it all once they get their hands on too much money. Many would say I should wait to give until I invest and have a lot more money so that I can do more. But it doesn’t really seem to go that way once you’ve got it. More importantly I believe there isn’t time to keep all that money. Now is when it’s needed. Now is the time to give. There is no waiting years or decades. If we all gave ourselves and used our money wisely today, we’d be in a much better place as a global society.
I’ll say it again, I promise never to be a millionaire. But I promise to spread the good and the love like few millionaires can.
Photo credit: Live Wonderful Photography – Planting a Community Fruit Tree in Orlando, Florida