Dave Ramsey and Defending the 1%, part 3

In spite of all this, I in no way am defending the rich as it being okay, better or worse.  What I am arguing is for some perspective.  A friend of mine named Jill Shaw informed me back in 2008 that wealth is relative.  My parents had said this for years but I didn’t really get it.  Jill said she would tell her teenage youth she worked with in Zimbabwe that they were wealthy too.  You see, they would complain about how rich Americans were and how they didn’t give any of their money away.  Jill would simply reply, “Do you have a pair of shoes?  I assume you know someone who doesn’t, right?  Doesn’t that make you relatively wealthy?”  I remember arguing at the time, as did the teenagers I’m sure, that those two examples weren’t even in the same category.

I have since come to appreciate the idea that wealth is pretty relative, my parents and Jill were right all along.  There is the 1% top wealthiest in America.  Within that top 1% though, there is a further top 10% that is insanely richer than the other 90% of that top 1%.  As I stated before though, if you make a net income of $31,100, you yourself are in the top 1% of the world.

In light of this, maybe a better argument would be one for contentment.  Be content with what you have.  Get out of debt, have an emergency savings account, and all the rest.  Just be sure to be content with what God has given you all along the way.  Maybe you’re not wealthy or even making ends meet, but be content.  Not content in the way that it keeps you from pursuing a better living in order to provide for your family’s needs; rather content in your spirit.  God blesses some people with wealth and others with poverty, either way it comes from Him and His hand. 

I can remember praying Proverbs 30:8 which states, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.”  While I kind of regret that prayer now since I can honestly say I sometimes covet wealth just like everyone else, at the same time I can attest to the fact that God has always answered that prayer and will continue to do so.  Also, he has blessed me with riches as I mentioned earlier.  I just choose to try and live simply within my means and live contentedly.