IMPORTANT! On 9/2/2010, an anonymous poster on a local website published derogatory, insulting and personal comments under a pseudonym. They then linked their pseudonym-signature to this article.
It would be easy for a casual reader to assume I wrote those comments.
I did not write those comments, and I do not know who did.
I am extremely upset that someone, to hide their own ugly act, then impugned and sullied my professional integrity and reputation.
Regular readers will know I have never, ever written anything as hurtful and unkind as that unknown poster did.
You may see my thoughts on this incident here.
We now return to Luann’s regularly scheduled post for today…..
What is it you really want in your life?
A local lawyer was in the news recently, for allegedly shortchanging the interests of his client in order to line his own pockets.
Soon after the story broke, we walked by his office, a building that sits prominently on our Central Square in downtown Keene.
We saw the strangest sign on the building. It read something like this:
$$ John Doe Law $$
We’ve walked by that sign several times a day for years now, and never noticed the dollar signs used as brackets til then.
Obviously, money was very, very important to this man–and/or his clients.
We all get caught up in money. I do. You do. Can’t live without it, right?
And yet….
What is it about money that we want it so badly? That we call for it so passionately, so persistently?
And is money what we really want?
What we really want is what money represents. Security–knowing we’re prepared if something goes horribly wrong. A roof over our head, preferably one that doesn’t leak. Food on the table. Maybe really, really nice food on the table. Travel. Adventure. Education.
But if these tangibles and intangibles are the things we really want, why do we focus so completely on the money?
What am I calling for in my life?
What happens if I call for money, call for it more powerfully than for anything else??
I know money is a means to an end. In the case of this lawyer, however, it may be that the pursuit of money, over the best interests of his client, became the end. The end of his career. The end of his reputation in this community. And probably the end of a whole lot more.
What I’m thinking about today is not how evil money is. It’s not. But I’m thinking about what money represents to me.
I’m wondering if some of those things, maybe I already have ’em.
And thinking maybe there are other ways to get the ones I don’t.
What do you intend to call for in your life?
P.S. A dear friend in the biz once wrote me to say, “You’re one of the few craftspeople I know who evaluates their success in many other ways besides money. I like that.” I still treasure that remark.
P.P.S. Just in case you’re thinking I’m trying to get nominated for sainthood here (ho ho!….NOT!), let me say I’m expecting a visit this afternoon from an African bead trader.
And I never say no to African trade beads.
Luann Udell 