Are We Rich Enough?

Some years ago, I was walking along the beach in Southampton with a friend who owns a summer home just to the north in an area just a smidge less affluent.  “I can’t believe how much money these people have to be able to afford a house here,” remarked my friend.  Funny thing was, I was thinking about how much money he has to be able to live his lifestyle.  And I thought about some of my other friends and how they must look at us and wonder how much money we earn to afford our way of life.  There seems to be no ends on the spectrum of wealth.  No matter how much you have, there is going to be someone who has more, and many who have less.

This is a prevailing theme in all areas of life.  No matter how good a cook you are, someone is going to serve up a more magnificent meal.  No matter how poorly you jump rope, someone else will always trip over the cord.  Think you have a clean house?  Someone else’s is shinier.  As talented as you are at writing, millions of other authors are the chosen published ones.

And then there are the back of the pack runners.  We run together back there, not always on a front of solidarity, but mostly because we can’t run fast enough to get away from each other.  We gaze in wonderment at the ease by which the faster runners wing past us.  We breathlessly admire the speed, gracefulness and, seemingly to us, the effortlessness of their gait. They are the envy, as well as the pride, of the gang behind them.  We cheer them and encourage them to go beyond what we strive for in our strides. 

But I have to wonder.  Are they, too, caught up in the dissatisfaction of their limits?  Do they not see themselves as we see them?  They can breathe while they run – what must it be like? Would that it was possible to run in their sneakers and have the experience of barely touching the ground while you run. We share their frustration during their agonies of defeat, because we feel it much more frequently. We can also have a good run and get a taste of triumph in the pace we set. How much different then, are they from us?  Do they have the same conversations among them as we have among ourselves?  Do they beat themselves up too – these idols we chase?  Are we all really just running around in circles or are we running towards our goals?

We are all together on this track. Everything is relative and perspectives can be skewed.  When we acknowledge the strength that is already inherently our own and no one else’s we become aware of our individual wealth.  We can silence the jeering voices in our heads and not allow them to rob us any longer.  We find out that our inner souls are gold plated, our rubber soles have been dipped in bronze and all our hopes have a silver lining.  We are all rich enough.