I've met quite a few folk’s who claim to be rich. Well, they have lots of money anyway. Anytime that I hear one of them saying how much money they do have, I always ask them how much are they talking about anyway. Most tell me that it’s none of my business and won't say.
So I ask, "Well, is it over a million dollars?"
And if they do say, "Yes." then I always ask them for $10,000.
At first they think that I am kidding. But I tell them I am not, that I am serious, I really do want them to give me $10,000.
They always ask me, "And why should I give you $10,000?"
I tell them, "If you really are rich then $10,000 should be nothing to you, no more than $10 is to me because I am poor, but the main reason that you should give it to me is simply because you have it and I am asking you for it."
They look at me and say, "I should give you $10,000 just because you ask for it? If I gave it to you then I would have to give it to anyone who ask for it, and soon I’d be the one who is poor, so sorry."
I’d promise that if they give it to me that I won't tell anybody where I got it but by then they're usually bored with me and just dismiss me as a kook or worse, some kind of communist.
So far none of them has given me the $10,000 though once a woman in her early 40's who said that she and her husband were very wealthy did try to give me some money.
Lindsey and I were at an upscale party in the east bay with some richer older people that Lindsey knew because she came from an upper class family. When I heard this woman talking about her homes in Berkeley, New York and Miami, and about how well their business were doing so well that they were donating a sizable amount of money to their church. I broke into the conversation and told her that she was wasting her money and that she should give it to me instead.
At first she was amused and condescending saying, "And why is that, dear?"
I told her "Well, I'm poor and could really use it. And if you really are rich then you're not going to heaven anyway, so you'd be just wasting it by giving it to a church."
She looked at me and said, "Whatever are you talking about?"
I said, "Well, doesn't Jesus say in the Bible that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to get into heaven? So if you are rich then there is no way your are going to heaven, so you can give me the money instead."
She was no longer amused and said, "First of all, I do not believe Jesus ever said that. And secondly, why should I give you any money at all."
I said, "Well, if you are truly a Christian, then it is your Christian duty to help the poor. I am poor and I am asking. Doesn’t the Bible say “Ask and ye shall receive?” and smile at her.
She got mad and said, "You are a very ill mannered young man, but because I am a Christian, I will give you some money since you asked." Then she got out her checkbook, writes a check and hands it to me.
I look at it and it's for $25. I handed it back to her and said, "I don't want $25. I want $10,000. $25 is nothing."
She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "You must be crazy to think that I would give you $10,000. You're lucky that I am giving you $25."
I smiled at her and said, "If you don't give me the $10,000, then that means money is more important to you than people, and you certainly aren't going to get into heaven with an attitude like that.”
With that she said, "I think this conversation is at an end."
She walked away from me and went over to the hostess who then went over to Lindsey, who then came over to me and said, "We've been asked to leave."
We do and it was the last time that Lindsey ever asked me to go over to the east bay with her again.
It's really funny about money too. The poor have almost none of it and it means little to them, it's just a tool to use to get other things. Yet to the rich who have a lot of it, it means almost everything. A poor man with only $10 in his pocket is much more likely to give you a dollar than is a man with 10 million dollars. In fact, the poor man will offer it to you if they know your broke while it would not even cross the rich man's mind. I've been poor my entire life so I have never understood greed, and if I am lucky I never will. After all, money is just paper to play with.