Quote:
Originally Posted by Dani  Keith,
A very negative outlook on that. You make it sound like anytime you recieve money you are actually depriving someone of something. taking it from them without providing anything. |
I pretty much agree with what you posted in response to my post. The statement I made was not an expression of my outlook (though I'm sure I harbor a lot of it unconsciously and need to work through that somehow) so much as pointing out a flaw in an analogy. The fat/thin thing doesn't have this complication about it, although I wonder if there are people who actually feel like it does ... like they would get mad at someone who lost weight because it made them feel fatter.
I guess my question is, since so many people
do feel both guilty when they receive money
and angry when they pass it along, it makes it hard psychologically to directly collect payment from people for any kind of service I would provide independently. It feels awkward for me. It seems like the people who could stand to benefit most from what I have to offer have always been on the poor side -- maybe this is something that needs to change?
Is this the reason businesses set up insulation between the customer and the company, so no one has to experience that awkwardness? A cashier who is just doing her job doesn't ever have to explain why a particular price was chosen for an item. She's not the one getting the money, so no one has to directly experience the transaction. Maybe because we're so used to this insulation, we're not accustomed to, say, going to a private shop and buying a handmade piece of furniture directly from the person who made it.
Money would work so well for all of society if everyone allowed it to flow, like water through the rivers or blood through the veins. But people have a very time-frozen view of it, that being if I have $500 right at this moment, it's better than if I have $50 right at this moment, regardless of how the overall flow is going. It's perceived as a static quality. They'll spend thousands of dollars on scratch-off tickets over the years, and one day they'll finally win $300 and think it's great.
The point being, the problem or the "block" doesn't just lie within the person seeking wealth -- it lies with a huge chunk of his potential customer base, and maybe the would-be entrepreneur internalizes this block.