MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING

MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING 

By 

Brij Sachdeva

In a village, working as a Pharmacy Officer in a government hospital, I had a friend, a resident of that village, who was a very rich farmer. He maintained a very simple lifestyle, like a poor man. From his clothes, no one could guess that he was a rich person. People did not associate with him because he was a miser. He would not spend a single rupee on anything which is not very urgently required. He believed in accumulating money more and more but would not spend or lend at all, come what may. From the face, he appeared very much innocent, which he was indeed also. His decency was so profound that it led to his isolation from society, to a great extent. I admired him only because of his simplicity, innocence and decency.

He used to tell me about an incident. A very ordinary incident, but the message it contains is worth consideration.

One day, as usual, he put a few lac rupees in a very dirty cloth bag and headed to the city for a term deposit in a bank. When he was trying to enter the bank, the newly appointed gatekeeper stopped him. The gatekeeper said with an insulting gesture, “Can’t you see, this is a bank”. He argued that he had come for a fixed-term deposit. The manager recognised his voice and immediately rushed to the gate to receive him. The manager hugged him and received him with a warm welcome and also asked the gatekeeper to give him great respect, whenever he comes to the bank, in future.

Money is money, it doesn’t matter who brought it. We are living in a society in which money is the most valued thing. You might have heard the proverb ‘money is not everything in life.’ That is true. But as far as the unfortunate contemporary trend of  society  is concerned, it would have been more appropriate to say that ‘money is almost everything in life.’

Today, I tell this story to give the message that the desire for money is not bad, but simplicity, innocence and decency should also be respected. In my vision simplicity, innocence and decency are the greater values than money. 

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