Rich is Better

It is interesting to watch Paul Walker and Jessica Alba in the Sony film, Into the Blue (2005)—two beautiful people living in Barbados in a trailer with virtually no money—both profess to each other throughout the film that love is all they need (also a theme in 2008’s charming film, Across the Universe). It’s a common enough Hollywood theme.

But it is interesting to note that at the end of Into the Blue, the characters end up rich (and live happily ever after we suppose) by finding and surfacing sunken treasure they fortuitously discover.

The film doesn’t comment on this volte face or its hypocrisy but I will.

Joe Louis, the great Heavyweight Champion of the World, still said it best, “I’ been rich and I’ been poor, and rich is better.”

While love is important, trust is more important and (some) money is essential too–not only for happiness but also for health.

If you watch this movie, https://youtu.be/-ainJQx4Tyg, Living on One Dollar, here are four American boys who set out to live on $1 a day just like the villagers they bunk in with in rural Guatemala.

The longer I watched that movie, the more disappointed I was.

Why?

Because the young Americans become listless and sick, which was bad for them and terrible for the village.

In my view, they should have gone there, not to starve with along those poor folks, but to make a contribution by, for example, starting a few micro businesses to help the village boost their incomes. Or not gone at all. Instead, they just became another burden on the village, one which they clearly could not afford… when you are that poor, you can’t take many risks without dying.

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD
ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker
Ottawa Senators founder
Real Estate Investment and Business coach
1-613-762-8884
bruce.firestone@century21.ca
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MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

postscript: If you are interested in Paul Walker films, Running Scared, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404390/ is [IMHO] Paul’s best movie—it tackles a serious issue (child abuse) and is terrifyingly realistic. Unfortunately, there will never be a sequel because Paul is tragically gone…