Riches and Rich People

ABC News has just announced:

Forrest named Australia's richest man
Posted 3 hours 42 minutes ago
Western Australian iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest has been named Australia's wealthiest person in the annual Forbes rich list.
The list was compiled according to stock prices and net worth valuations on February 11 and estimates Mr Forrest is worth $6.5 billion.
He is ranked 145th on the worldwide list, making him the highest placed Australian, 28 places above gaming entrepreneur James Packer.
The world's richest man is American businessman Warren Buffet, who has taken the title from Microsoft's Bill Gates after 13 years.

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In 2007 Brilliant Careers Salon announced:

the so-called Oracle of Omaha has made many people very wealthy over the course of his five-decade career. Buffet's own 38 percent stake in Berkshire Hathaway gives him a net worth of more than $36 billion, making him the second-wealthiest man in the world, behind his friend Bill Gates, and one of the few who has amassed such astonishing riches solely through stock market investments.

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Notably, Watten Buffet is not known as being a philanthropist. He solely wishes to pass on his company to unnamed heirs. But can they live up to walking in Warren Buffet's shoes?

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So, I am wondering why. What is the drive and what is the real value of such a lifestyle if it all spirals around a megalomaniacal desire to succeed further than anyone else in the business world? Who would admire such a person? Only a Bill Gates could understand the inner satisfaction? But more interesting, who would be jealous of such a person's success? Is it worthy of jealousy in fact?

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I, for one, have maybe the rather strange reaction of indifference. Perhaps not being a corporate guru helps me to assume the mantel of indifference. I would have to rank as what I would call the "poor upper middle class". We are a new breed of educated society who once had money and property but circumstance took it all away. Now we dream about it, and feed our old hunger occasionally with a "lash out" served by the famous credit card. The action services a kind of colonial identity and then we must pay for that weakness fourfold over some domino chunking of time.

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Maybe, in a sense I am pretending not to be envious. Like so many, I work hard but money generated barely meets survival demands. It is not enough to have a good work ethic any more. Corporate smarts win hands down.

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But I feel that in so many ways, there are riches to be had far beyond money. As a teacher, I watch students walk on to new stages in life. I see a young man who once could not write a sentence. Now he proudly and corrctly sets out an electrician's docket. I find out that an ex-student decides to share an evening of reading poetry with a current student, just to help him out. Currently, I am still dealing with pneumonia but going to work anyways. It's quite a strain on the voice. By the afternoon, there are more coughing fits than sane instruction. But then, a student steps in and volunteers to read information for awhile - out loud to the class. Notably, the student is one of the regular pains in Year 9. And these are just a sample of some amazing, priceless moments over the past week. In my teaching career, I have a goldmine of them that my bank account knows nothing about.

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And as I type these fresh memories, I begin recalling details of so many others. Of course I would like a little more security in my bank account. I am getting older and should be thinking of retiring. That just can't happen. But if that means sacrificing gathering more of these treasures, then there can be only one answer. I would never swap the wealth I have now which accumulates and gathers momentum for time to come. I feel honoured to have such an important role in life where others can live beyond their expectations.

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