One thing that sometimes gets lost when talking about money issues is the real reason why money management is so important. Most people would say, it’s to get rich. And although I actually prefer the words “build wealth” over “get rich” I suppose it all means the same thing, to be financially comfortable.
But what is the real definition of “rich” or “wealthy?” Sure, anyone could look it up in the dictionary and get Websters take of the literal definition about having abundance and treasures, etc. But is that really what being rich means?
This week on the news there was a headline story of what I believe is the true definition of “rich” is. It was a story of a young 15 year old girl, who lives in a secluded neighborhood in Central Florida. She had had been surfing the internet as most kids do now days. The computer was in the family’s living room in plain site of mom and dad, and dad even knew what sites she was surfing, but admittedly he knows nothing about computers or how to get to any of the websites she was on. None-the-less, they felt all was okay since it was in view of the family.
The 15 year old told her parents she had a boy friend, and even told her friends at school she was in love with someone she met online, and that she was going to run away with this person. But nobody knew how serious it really was, or who this boy was until tragedy happened.
The young girl slipped out of her house early Monday morning to meet this “boy” and disappeared. Authorities were notified and AMBER alerts went out state wide. Thirty hours later and 400 miles away from her home, this young girl was found in a Wal-Mart. She had run away from her home to meet someone she thought she was in love with, to discover he was a gun carrying 46 year old convicted sex offender. It is believe he was scared off by the state wide publicity and that is why he let this young girl go.
She was quickly reunited with Mom and Dad. When her Dad was asked “how does it feel to have your daughter back?” he was quoted as saying “ Go ask that guy who won the Megaball lottery up North somewhere, all right? I feel ten times better than that.”
Do you think he feels RICH? Yes. Is he rich, you bet he is. He may live on modest means, or maybe not, but regardless of the amount of money or possessions he has, he is an extremely rich man. The whole family is rich because they are together, safe, as a family.
Being loved having your family and friends safe and healthy is really what it means to be rich and wealthy. I hope with all this blogging here and all over the internet regarding debt and wealth building that the real definition is not lost or forgotten.
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