Not long ago, J. Paul Getty was one of the richest men in the country. A reporter once asked him, “How much is enough?” Getty answered, “A little bit more.” Many of our current politicians want us to hate rich people. Funny, because all of those politicians are richer than most of us. If you have ever been to Pittsburgh, PA, you may have noticed how many libraries, hospitals, and other public buildings start with Carnegie in their names. Andrew Carnegie, like many wealthy people, used his wealth to serve the public by providing facilities one of us alone could not afford to build. This is before you consider all the families who prospered because one or more of them were provided jobs by Carnegie. In fact, all of my jobs were provided by a rich person.
How did they get rich? Today’s politicians would like you to believe they stole the money from poor people. How did poor people have enough money for rich people to steal? Here is the truth. Rich people had an idea, a dream, and they worked night and day to make that dream a reality. In “Choosing Life,” I told you about my father. He had an idea to start his own rivet company. We starved for a couple years while every penny was poured back into that business. My father worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for years to make the business succeed. Then he hired other people to work in the business as it grew. That’s how most people get rich. They work for it. And they work really hard.
The Bible tells us to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life and to work with our hands. I hope that means using our hands to work a keyboard. My husband and I have found such blessing in living a quiet life. We are not rich, but we have enough. We worked hard and saved as much as we could. A quiet life is not expensive. No expensive toys or travel. A quiet life is more rewarding than constantly striving to be rich. But, we can appreciate those who achieve enough to help others.
