How much is too much?

[cays]

If a book was produced in a factory, and I would consume it like I drink a Coke, then I would think about it in almost the same manner. I would think, why is a bottle of Coca Cola more expensive than a bottle of milk, which is grown within a living creature. Or if it was just a mass production of a group of authors writing the same story again and again, then consumed by readers just passing their time ...

But a book is nothing like that to me, it's an artwork, a passion sometimes, a single piece. How long has it been developed and maturated? How many hearts has an author to spend it into his masterpiece? A book of this format is not consumed, but sometimes lived with. So who comes to give such a book its price? Who goes to evaluate such a book?

Originally Posted by Quexos

When you realize that this world has a lot of riches to offer, a lot of happiness, a lot of pleasure but then you learn that you must pay for it all, to the last cent.

While a lot of your points were valid, this statement is not entirely true. There are many pleasures in life that are free. Friendship. Solitude. Hikes in the park. Even games can be free (or pretty close to it).

I've made checker boards out of woven scraps of construction paper with children, but you could easily do the same by etching a grid in the sand. I've gone to camp fires with colleagues, where we scrounged bits of wood from the bush. Even reading can be free if you share with other people.

The reason why so many things cost is because we think that they're more enjoyable when they're fancy. We get that fine wood chess board with fancy carved pieces. We go out with our friends to enjoy a meal or drinks. We desire our own new copy of that book.

Yes, many things are not just. It is terrible to see people receiving inadequate medical treatment for genetic conditions. I'm horrified by how much tax money is spent on the instruments of war (even in a peaceful country like Canada). Yet the fact that some things cost does not negate the fact that some things are free. We just need to know where to look and have an attitude that permits us to enjoy those pleasures.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Well I'll tell you when how much becomes too much.

When you are born into this world without you ever having been asked your consent or at least your opinion on the matter.
Then when you are alive and finally accept it as a fact, you realize that one day you will have to die and again whether you want it or not is not taken into consideration. You must die, period !
That much is too much.

When you realize that this world has a lot of riches to offer, a lot of happiness, a lot of pleasure but then you learn that you must pay for it all, to the last cent. But of course you learn that the system is such as to keep you just under the line of actual freedom and that most stuff is simply beyond your means as of course you only make enough money for the basics and strict minimum (Which is actually more than a lot have in poor countries)
So man can go to space but don't ever think about you going there, man can fly but apart from commercial flights whose purpose is to take you somewhere, not to freely let you fly up or down, faster or slower, you may not fly in some personal machine that you'd own because it simply is beyond your monetary means, man can drive powerful fancy cars but again don't actually hope to own one as they are totally out of price, I would dare say, on purpose so that only an elite few may own them but not you, never you !
etc ...
That much is again too much.

When you hear they found a cure for AIDS, cancer, leukemia and so on but such treatments are so totally beyond your monetary means that you wonder why bother finding those cures ? Obviously not for the betterment of mankind, only for the benefit of an elite few who again can afford it. And to think that some call those people who find such cures, heroes
That much is definitely too much.

When you hear how everything is taxed.
The money you make, the money you spend, the money you save, the money you inherit, the money you bequeath. And I won't talk about extra hours at work to try and improve your life by getting a little extra because that money is actually taxed at 60, 70 and even 80% making it pointless to try and survive by sacrificing your free time at work.
That much is so very totally too much.

And finally, in order to avoid too much digressing in this post.
When you pay too much for a book, a reading device. But also food, goods and services of course.
But the thing here is, pretty much any price now is too much as I don't see anything that is for sale in our good and benevolent societies, being sold for what it's really worth.
And that is also too much.

But finally what I consider the champion in all categories of too much is the fact that people seem to accept this without question as if it were a normal part of a free society whose effort is the well being of its denizens and not of its corporations.
All in all, it appears, most people are just Another Brick in the Wall.
And that, brothers and sisters, IS TOO MUCH !

"Some people say they gonna die some day. I got news, you never got to go."

I am impoverished, and yet I live. I am crippled, and yet I have joy. I am awake, and yet I dream. I am trapped, and yet I am free. I am too little, and yet I am too much.

When worry tries to grab onto me, I kill it without compunction. I am free from the rat race. The ruling rats run, fight, fear, and die. Are they truly better off than I?

<Play sappy music.>

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

"Some people say they gonna die some day. I got news, you never got to go."

I am impoverished, and yet I live. I am crippled, and yet I have joy. I am awake, and yet I dream. I am trapped, and yet I am free. I am too little, and yet I am too much.

When worry tries to grab onto me, I kill it without compunction. I am free from the rat race. The ruling rats run, fight, fear, and die. Are they truly better off than I?

<Play sappy music.>

And I understand that the richer a person is the more likely to have things like heart trouble and ulcers simply because they are always worrying about their $$$. Who has it? Where is it? Is it safe in the bank I use? Can anyone steal it out of my account? etc. It seems the more riches you have in this life the less peace you have in your own mind.

[forsooth]

I am learning idioms. Speaking in vernacular.

I think best statement for this thread discussion from "old" West of America.

"Watch your step when the chips are down."

(lot of chips from all the "bull.")

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by crich70

And I understand that the richer a person is the more likely to have things like heart trouble and ulcers simply because they are always worrying about their $$$. Who has it? Where is it? Is it safe in the bank I use? Can anyone steal it out of my account? etc. It seems the more riches you have in this life the less peace you have in your own mind.

There are enough people that are not rich that worry about money. Not because they are worried about losing it somehow, but worried about how to get enough to live.

As long as a small group of people holds most of the riches of this world, there will always be poor people. It's ridiculous that there are people in this world that make 10 times as much money with their job in one year than I do in my entire lifetime with mine, and I already have a comfortable, above average salary. No job is worth *that* much.

Originally Posted by crich70

And I understand that the richer a person is the more likely to have things like heart trouble and ulcers simply because they are always worrying about their $$$. Who has it? Where is it? Is it safe in the bank I use? Can anyone steal it out of my account? etc. It seems the more riches you have in this life the less peace you have in your own mind.

I doubt that it has anything to do with money worries. The poor have much more to worry about, including dying earlier:

http://www.epi.org/publication/webfe...hots_20080116/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7059693.stm

I saw a couple of studies a few years back that noted that being poor correlated with more health problems. Apparently the statistics also demonstrated that becoming rich didn't cure those ailments since people born into poverty tended to have more health problems throughout life, even if they were successful later in life.

[Fluribus]

If people want to help the poor cripples of the world, then step up and help the poor cripples of the world. Worrying has never yet helped anybody. The impoverished can't eat worry. Roll with it if you want. But I shall remain the poor, crippled, and jaunty worry-slayer.

I'm not saying it's easy. In my world nothing is easy. So why would I want to strap a massive crate full of worry on my back.

"Here's a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note."

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

There are enough people that are not rich that worry about money. Not because they are worried about losing it somehow, but worried about how to get enough to live.

As long as a small group of people holds most of the riches of this world, there will always be poor people. It's ridiculous that there are people in this world that make 10 times as much money with their job in one year than I do in my entire lifetime with mine, and I already have a comfortable, above average salary. No job is worth *that* much.

I tend to agree with you. Coaches for sports teams make more than the highest paid teachers as far as that goes. Someone once asked John Rockefeller how much money was enough and he replied "just a little bit more." I'm not saying the poor (myself included) have no worries since we don't have vast sums of $$ but at the same time $$ doesn't buy true happiness either. No sum of $$ can buy a sunrise or sunset or give back health to someone with a chronic disease. True riches can't be purchased with a checkbook.