Would you Rather be Born Rich or Intelligent?
Call me a naive sucker, but every now and then, I get pulled into these random debates... and it almost invariably involves Farcebook.
Yeah, I know... "why am I still using Farcebook?"
I have no excuse... well, I do have the excuse that it's still fertile "recruiting ground" for Steemit... so there's that.
But anyway...
Wealth or Intelligence?
So anyway, this discussion was a sidetrack to one of the inevitable Donald-Trump-political-rants on Facebook, and I felt like exploring it a bit further, and wanted to invite the Steemit community to share opinions, too.
Money, like a dandelion puff, can be gone in a moment...
A fellow by name Kinky Friedman (one time candidate for Texas governor) once observed that "Money can buy you a fancy dog, but only love can make him wag his tail."
Any time I come across a debate related to the issue of whether or not it's "good" to be rich (from birth, or otherwise) that quote tends to pop into my mind-- perhaps because this is ultimately an issue of "What is going to make me happy, in life?"
Something not very many people know about me is that I grew up among some very rich and powerful individuals, which gave me some inside looks at lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Truthfully? I saw very little evidence that wealth alone made anyone happy. In fact I saw more alcohol and substance abuse, as well as depression and suicide attempts, than I have seen with pretty much any other group of people.
By the way, I have also been homeless... and spent a while "living" on a bench at a municipal golf course... so I've "lived" both sides of the equation.
So, from a purely experiential point of view, that's a pretty strong vote for being born intelligent rather than rich. Yeah, I know the two aren't mutually exclusive...
A couple of other things spring to mind, as I consider this dilemma.
Experience there is a considerable difference between being born rich (which is how this debate started, remember?), and becoming rich, through your own ingenuity and hard work.
Branches silhouetted against the sunset...
As human beings, we tend to derive pleasure, satisfaction and a measure of contentment from the creative process, itself. If you look at the daily news, more often than not the "troubled" individuals who make the headlines with their crappy behavior are the born-to-wealth likes of billionaire heiress Paris Hilton, rather than the self-made likes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
After all, how can you possibly know the "value" of money, if you never actually had to work for it?
Don't get me wrong-- I have nothing against money or wealth.
But consider this: the old saying "A fool and his money are soon parted" is much more than an empty saying. Managing and maintaining wealth is a very complex process, and most people totally misunderstand (or gloss over) that part.
If you are born to riches but lack intelligence, how do you propose to manage your money so as to continue being rich into old age, rather than just burning through your stash of cash? Again, there ARE people who are born rich and intelligent- but this particular discussion was phrased as an "either/or" question.
WHO is Asking the Question? "The Grass is Always Greener..."
People always seem to want what they don't have.
Foliage of a bright yellow Yew tree
If you were born and raised in poverty and have struggled to earn a basic living all your life, there tends to be a subtext in your life the "being rich" is-- somehow-- the "magic pill" that will make life better.
But usually... it isn't.
Think of all the times we hear about someone winning the lottery, and five years later they are declaring bankruptcy... and not only are they right back where they started; they now have a ton of debt they'll never be able to repay, as well as a massive dose of anger and bitterness at no longer having "the good life."
I'm also reminded of a massive study done back in 2008-09 which showed that once someone made (at the time) US $75,000 a year... they stopped feeling materially better about their lives as their income went up... a strong vote for the idea that money can only "buy happiness" up to a point.
"Permanence" vs. "Transcience"
On a personal level, what "seals the deal" is the issue of permanence vs transience.
Purple petunia
I'm a long term thinker. One of "those people" who started planning for retirement at age 20, etc. The fact that I failed miserably at building anything permanent again points to the transience of money.
Barring a horrible accident or illness, intelligence tends to be a permanent attribute-- as a result of which having it can most likely help you (re)create wealth, even if something causes you to lose all your money. If you are born intelligent, you will always have that.
Riches, on the other hand, can be very temporary and fleeting; a fortune can be erased overnight as a result of misfortune, economic downturns, a bad investment or a poor business decision. I have seen this in my own extended family, multiple times-- every generation since the 1870's has included multi-millionaires who lost everything and rebuilt their wealth from scratch, using little more than their intelligence and insight. Some did it more than once, in their lifetimes.
Without intelligence, would they have been able to rebuild their fortunes?
There's one final-- slightly paradoxical-- thought here: In more than a few cases, having intelligence allows for the consideration and insight that "being rich" actually isn't "all that," thus rendering the entire discussion somewhat moot...
Being born rich might look nice-- on paper-- but the majority of the time, true enduring wealth is created as a result of using one's intelligence. Hence I'd rather be born intelligent, than rich... any day.
What do YOU think? If we could start with a "clean slate," would you rather have been born intelligent or rich? This assumes you could only have ONE "dominant" attribute! Does it even matter to you? Have you ever considered this line of thought? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170820 10:34 PDT
Being rich is the ability to force others to do your bidding. Eventually nobody will listen to you.
Being intelligence is the ability to do things yourself. Eventually people will listen after seeing what you are capable of.
Common, for money you can always buy an intellegence - simply by attending a better school and better univetsity. Also you can buy smart advisors as well.
I always would vote for money because with money I can help other people. Really help, by giving food but not only words and promises.
Human's life is not about collecting things(money or intellegence), human's life is about how you use those things, how you give your things others.
Human's life is abour spreading and sharing, but not about having and collecting
Well, if you have the intelligence to use the money wisely, that is of course the best situation.
But it's a little different when we assume as the original question, and it's "OR" not "AND."
So now we have a person with lots of money whose biggest concern is when they are going to have their next beer or vodka, or what car is "cool." Now what?
I don't know why we even should think about this guy? it's his choice, we can neither judge him nor change him.
Why should we think about?
and by the way, sometimes I have the same bigger concern or browse "cool cars" in internet. I cannot be a smart 100% of my time. I'm human and I allow myself to be smart, stupid, fool, evil, angry, happy.
We're all just human and we all have our natural properties like I mentioned above. Rich, poor, educated are an additional(additional to natural) social scale for measuring something.
as you say...if you are born intelligent you can become rich.
If you are born rich but stupid then you depend on others (intelligent people) to maintain your wealth for you.
Fun Fact: everyone in the US (or any first world country for that matter) WAS born rich by the standards of 99% of the total population of the planet (since time began)
Wisdom.
And true about being "born rich."
Which is also how Steemit can be a life changing experience for someone from a developing nation.
yup...and me thinks Steemit is but the FIRST
@denmarkguy - I will prefer to be born intelligent than a rich kid. I have interesting logic behind it.
Case 1- You born as a rich kid, doesn't mean that you will always be rich. Equations keep on changing and there are so many possible ways that you will lose all your money because you were not able to take intelligent decisions. Maybe you have an amazing staff, who take care of everything, however, what if someone turn the table?
I just mentioned few of the scenarios.
Case 2- You born as an intelligent kid. Again there are so many ways you can become rich. When I'm saying intelligent kid (I'm also guessing to be a street-smart kid and not just having bookish knowledge). I'm pretty much sure that this kid has better chances to become rich and stay there for long. We have so many living examples.
Final conclusion:- If you are intelligent, you can be rich, however, it's not vice-versa.
How many of you are agree?
Steem ON!
I agree entirely... you can use your intelligence to create riches... but it's very unlikely you can use riches to create intelligence.
I would choose rich over intelligence
While both attributes can bring drawbacks (being smart can really be a social disadvantage), being rich means that you can retard yourself through life well fed and housed.
You can be smart as hell, and never get the opportunity to use it.
Finally, this quote always makes me laugh:
If you're so smart, why aint you rich?
Well, being smart has never helped me get rich, that's for sure.
But then again, I've never had much interest in, or ambition for, getting rich. "Basically comfortable" does nicely for me.
Would I want to be a dumb schmuck with money? Would I even know the difference? Beats me...
It's a hard decision even limiting it to an absolute choice.
But there is one thing that might influence your decsion.
How many dumb folks do you know that don't realize that they are dumb? ;>
OTOH, smart folks tend to worry about the problems that go with being smart
Here is a great book about that: The curse of the High IQ
There is a greater chance of me getting rich if I was more intelligent, than me getting intelligent because I am rich. I feel a lot has to do with where you are in life. If I got rich young, I probably would have partied it away, compared to if I got rich now, where I would manage it better.
Definitely some wisdom there @ptmikesteem! And you can definitely use your brains to get rich... but less likely vice-versa.
Nice post! I'm feeling driven to comment... :) I would prefer to be born intelligent any day. Then I'd be able to choose my 'riches'. I'll have my own ideas as to what 'rich' means to me and I'll also have the intelligence to pursue what I want in the most effective and efficient manner. If I were merely born rich, though it sounds good and safe, then I'd have to go with somebody else's idea of wealth. And not use my own mind. Or grow up. Thanks, but no thanks! :)
Thanks for your comment! This was hard for me to answer completely in terms of an "either/or" question... my own definition of "rich" is probably quite different from greater society's, as I expect yours is.
This is quite the interesting read! I would pick intelligence, and just figure out how to use my brain to make money :) Ha ha!
That's pretty much where I stand on it too, @susanne. And you can't buy a brain with money....
I would like to get rich myself. And in wealth by inheritance there is hardly anything good. If a person has everything from birth, and he does not need to strain, then he generally does not have the motivation to somehow develop. He does not even want anything.
You're right... wealth by inheritance seldom leads to much creativity and production. I don't really care about "rich;" I just want my impression of "enough."
Can not both of them? @denmarkguy If not ... I prefer to be healthy, and then nothing cant stop me to achieve both :)
"Healthy" is a nice choice @joyce99... and I am grateful daily for having good health.