120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 7

Chapter 1, Section 6 Sympathy for Millionaires

[UK] Bernard Shaw

In this kingdom I found that everything was produced for thousands and nothing for millionaires.Babies, children, juveniles, youths, gentlemen, wives, ladies, craftsmen, clerks, even nobles and kings have supplies.The only people who are not valued and obviously not popular are the millionaires because they are so few in number.The poor have their thrift shop, a well-stocked and thriving market in Foxhound Gutter, where you can buy a pair of boots for a penny.And if you search all over the world, you can't find a market that can wholesale a pair of boots for fifty pounds, a high-end hat for forty guineas, money accessories on bicycles, and a bottle of Queen Cleopatra worth four pearls. red wine.

Therefore, the unfortunate millionaire is responsible for the wealth of the family, and his enjoyment cannot exceed that of the ordinary rich man.In many respects, indeed, he did not enjoy as much, or even as much, as many poor people.For a bandmaster dresses better than he does; the trainer's stable boy rides on a better horse; Passenger cars of the Pullman train.But what a man who could afford a peacock brain sandwich had nothing to offer but ham or beef!

Such unfair situations are far more than that.A man whose income is twenty-five pounds a year, once his income is doubled, his enjoyment can be multiplied several times.A man who earns fifty pounds a year will at least quadruple his enjoyment if his income is doubled.For those earning up to £25 a year, double the income means double the enjoyment.Above this number, the proportion of the increase in enjoyment to the increase in income becomes smaller and smaller.In the end, he falls victim to wealth, and is sickened, even disgusted, by anything money can buy.

You say that everyone likes money, so you should be as excited about getting tens of thousands of extra pounds, just as the boy in the candy store is happy to work two hours of overtime every day because children love candy.But what do millionaires want all that money, all that wealth?Does he need a fleet of yachts?Want an army of minions?Want housing for the whole city?Or want an entire continent as his hunting forest?How many theaters can he go to in one night?How many sets of clothes can a person wear at the same time?How many pounds more can he digest in a day than his chef?He has to take care of more money and read more letters asking him for loans. Is this also a pleasure?A poor man can have sweet dreams, sit down and think about how he will live when a relative who is far away from him leaves him a fortune, so that he forgets his poverty for a while, because This kind of windfall is not unique.But millionaires don't need to have such a dream, isn't it a pleasure?

【Together with you】

As the saying goes, the poor have the worries of the poor, and the rich have the worries of the rich.The amount of money is not the only requirement for a happy life and a high level of enjoyment.Sometimes, as a millionaire, life needs are just the minimum conditions, and a poor person can also enjoy freedom and happiness without worry.

To some extent, as human beings, material decoration does not determine our nobility or humbleness.Nobility often comes from the heart of a person.

Of course, knowing how to pursue wealth is worthy of our vigorous promotion.Poverty is the real evil.Using hard-working hands in exchange for labor rewards is enough to warm our whole life.O world, what kind of man will you give me back this morning when I, a mother, gave you her sweet little boy?

(End of this chapter)