Am I wealthy?
That word can have so many meanings. On one level, wealth can mean money and opportunities it presents. Money can also mean a couple of different things: gross income, net income, dollar value on your house, etc. How much you owe. In that concept, I am not too wealthy in the slightest. But I am wealthy in other ways.
Wealth can also mean what you know. Random facts, arguments of logic, how to do something useful (or not so useful) to society. If one were to measure wealth in these terms, I would be slightly more wealthy. I think even those who are impoverished can be wealthy if we measure in these terms and not the first. Anyone can.
Finally, we might associate wealth with life experience and life lessons. In that way, I think all of us are wealthy, especially people who have been through a lot of hardships. The unfortunate thing is that wealth won't get one the other ways to be wealthy alone, nor will the other ways do the same with this. This form of wealth is merely in the mind. While it helps the impoverished deal with their situation, it doesn't do much else for them. I think we must not simply discard this enormous wealth, however. We must listen to these people tell their hard stories and help them. "It's a learning experience" cannot be used as an excuse unless we make it better after the lesson is learned. That, my friends, is progress.
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