Am I a better person now that my income has increased?

vasuderatorrent said:

One person in my personal life. Many people in this thread. Of course they never direct it at me. They direct it generally about people like me.

They generalize that all people with low incomes are scum bags. If those scum bags get job offers for more money, they always take them. This makes little sense to me. This is the ideology that I am trying to challenge.

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When I was in school, I was pretty poor. When I got out of school, I was still pretty poor. Got married. Still pretty poor. Changed jobs a few times and got some promotions and made some ridiculously stupid mistakes on the job.

I think you could argue pretty persuasively that I was not a very good person after I had doubled my income compared to the person who was living in the condemned duplex in the ghetto.

This is not to say I did not do stupid and incredibly selfish crap at every turn regardless of my income. It's just that my pettiness and insecurity as an immature manager came through in the way I managed people. As I matured and got a better grip on what a business was and how to work with and for people, I got far less stupid.

Now I'm older and with age comes wisdom which is French for experience. Having made almost every mistake and stupid move previously, I can feel when it's about to happen again.

The perspective of age lends understanding in viewing the actions of others as well as my own actions. There is something to be said for the mercurial flights and crashes of passion. The highs and lows are like working without a net.

Right now, I generally like boredom. Does this make me a better person? Does having enough money make me a better person?

"Most men live their lives in quiet desperation"- Thoreau

"The wild regrets and the bloody sweats, None knew so well as I"- Wilde

vasuderatorrent said:

I know people that make $80,000 a year and can't afford to put up $200 to send their kid to camp. My income was in the high $20's. I have never seen difficutly in coming up with $200 for something that I felt was important. In your scenario you live in a different state. The person I am describing lives in my same area but struggles to come up with $200. I don't get that either.

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I know many people like that. They just have no talent for managing money. They live way beyond their means. They borrow at exorbitant interest rates. Or as my grandma would have said, "a dime burns a hole in their pocket."

I voted but now need to give an explanation. So: More money gives people an additional opportunity to change the person they are. What are you going to do with that opportunity? We have more money now. Most if not all of our changes are due to getting older and being retired. More money just allows us more choices. It also adds a lot of complexity to our lives since we can do so much more.

OP, havent you posted on the topic of $$ before of your difficulties accepting...and your church/community accepting (at least in your mind)...your wife making more $ than you?

To the point of bringing suicide into the conversation?

vasuderatorrent said:

Lizzie, turtledude, cephus, miserveritis are a few of the people who think poor people are scum for the simple fact that their income is low.

I understand this thinking to some degree. It just doesn't account for the fact that a good economy can boost the income of "scum bags".

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Lizzie???? Gonna have to quote that for me.

vasuderatorrent said:

My eligibility for many government benefits vanished.

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You may not be a better person, but at least you're carrying more of your own weight these days. Congrats!

vasuderatorrent said:

Closer to the second one. I was starting a thread to show how inaccurate it is to believe that someone was bad based upon their income.

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Bad is a very general word. More often we 'judge' someone by their words and actions.

Being bad doesnt have to be active...passivity can also be bad.

Bump to see if the OP found this poll/thread useful?

Because he's already starting another, related one....

More money obviously equates to a better person and only a poor person wouldn't understand this...

vasuderatorrent said:

My base annual income as of March 18, 2014 = $16,302
My wife's base income as of March 18, 2014 = $13,500

Total income = $29,802.00

My base annual income as of March 19, 2014 = $16,302
My wife's base income as of March 19, 2014 = $18,720
Additional source of income as of March 20, 2014 = $10,400

Total income = $45,422.

In the course of 2 days my household income jumped by $15,622.

How does this make me a better person than I was 2 days prior? I don't get it. My eligibility for many government benefits vanished. Does this make me a better person from a moral perspective? If so, what was I doing wrong before this happened? What was I doing right that caused this to happen? How did my character change just in the course of 2 days?

I voted for the third option but I know lots of people believe that scum bags have low incomes and good people have high incomes.

Perhaps this exercise will allow them the opportunity to explain their world view.

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It does not make you a morally superior person. What it does do is demonstrate that you were more helpful to others, which is a positive consideration.

vasuderatorrent said:

How does this make me a better person than I was 2 days prior? I don't get it. My eligibility for many government benefits vanished. Does this make me a better person from a moral perspective? If so, what was I doing wrong before this happened? What was I doing right that caused this to happen? How did my character change just in the course of 2 days?

I voted for the third option but I know lots of people believe that scum bags have low incomes and good people have high incomes.

Perhaps this exercise will allow them the opportunity to explain their world view.

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Were you going to return to offer your conclusions to your poll?