Maybe It Isn't The 1% or The 99%, Wealth or Poverty. Maby It Is Something Else

“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”  -Voltaire

The Occupy Movement has centred itself on the slogan, “We are the 99%” and has positioned itself as the champions in a battle with the privileged 1%. It’s confusing though because many in the 1% are not the same people or institutions that Occupy condemns.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zukerberg to name three, all started from middle-class beginnings but grew to be among the richest in the world. All three were in the 1% income and wealth bracket but are not considered to be part of the enemy.

They acquired their wealth by creating something and then building on what they had created. With their financial success came great privilege and while the current protest movement tweets globally and shouts out slogans against the 1%, they benefit from the work and accomplishment of these three. I have never seen any message from, or heard anyone in, Occupy condemn any of these three men.

It got me thinking that maybe the enemy isn’t wealth or privilege, maybe it is something else.

We all strive to improve our lives in one way or another and when we are successful, it brings rewards including increased privilege. How you define privilege is quite varied and really depends on the circumstance in which you live.

A homeless person might consider those with a home, no matter how humble, quite privileged. Someone living in famine stricken parts of Africa might consider not having to walk miles to get a couple of buckets of potable water and a handful of food from relief organizations a privilege. Still others might consider it a great privilege to live in a democracy, no matter how flawed, where they could speak freely and not live in fear of oppression and violence from the totalitarian state in which they live.

In that way, we all hope, wish and strive for increased privilege in our lives.

I see nothing wrong in someone creating something and building it into a success that makes them wealthy. I see nothing wrong in them enjoying the rewards and privilege that comes with that success and I don’t believe that I, or anyone else, have the right to judge them for what they choose to do with their money or their privilege. That is between them and their conscience.

What I do have a problem with are those people who look for the short cut to a privileged life. That’s what many in the securities industry did when they created derivatives, junk bonds and sub-prime mortgages. It wasn’t the creation of something of value; it was the creation of an illusion of value in order to generate commissions and higher incomes for those doing the selling.

Gates and Jobs didn’t sit down when they were young and tell themselves that they wanted to do something to make themselves ridiculously rich. They created something they believed in and built on it. The wealth flowed from that. Securities companies came at if from the opposite side of the issue. They looked for ways to make more money and then developed junk to try and achieve it.

That isn’t an issue exclusively within the 1%.

Too many people lost their homes because of the sub prime mortgage fiasco but not all lost because of the banks. Some lost their homes because they bought more house than they could afford simply because credit was cheap. Others, in a bid to get rich quick, started buying properties as investments using sub-prime mortgages to finance them. Sellers of schemes on how to achieve this constantly advertised on info-commercials and thousands bought into it. When the sub-prime mortgage market collapsed, it brought down most of those who were over-financed.

There are no short cuts to being wealthy unless your parents are and they intend to leave it all to you or unless you are the one in one billion who wins the lottery. The fact is that most of the people who have wealth and privilege have earned it and if we were being totally honest, most of us wouldn’t mind having the wherewithal to achieve the same thing.

The enemy is greed and not all who are wealthy or successful are driven by greed. They are driven by a need to achieve.

Donald Trump is in the 1% but he faced bankruptcy a decade ago. The banks who had once lined up to give him credit wouldn’t talk to him but he didn’t quit. He fought his way back and earned again his current wealth and privileged lifestyle. He didn’t whine about his predicament on Facebook and Twitter the way julian assange is currently. He didn’t blame anyone but himself unlike Mr. Assange who is now blaming his current financial predicament on credit card companies, governments and pretty much anyone but himself.

In his own way, the founder of Wikileaks demonstrates more greed than Trump ever did.

Privilege and greed are not exclusive to the wealthy because they are not exclusively defined by money. Mother Theresa considered herself privileged to live in poverty and serve the poor of what was then called Calcutta. She also considered her life to be rich because she served the God in which she believed by serving the people she believed he loved.

Students think it is the responsibility of the state to pay for their education and to provide them jobs but what is the state other than you and me? Why is it your responsibility or mine to subsidize the education and advancement of someone else, especially when the cost of paying taxes to achieve that deprives members of my own family from the benefits my income might bring them?

The struggle to have our voices heard at the expense of others is a form of greed. When we begin to think our voices are more important than those of others, we exhibit a form of greed. Our opinions become more valuable to us than those of others and we are greedy to have them heard and the others dismissed. I have always found it odd that the Occupy Movement which prides itself on being democratic has a hand signal to be used in general assemblies that blocks others from speaking. What is that if not a form of greed?

There is much that is right about our democracies but on this I agree with Occupy, there are things that need fixing. Unlike Occupy, however, I don’t target a percentage of the population nor do I attack those who have been successful and earned the rewards that come with that success. I target something else.

For me it is about a lack of integrity in some business sectors, cynicism in politics and an unwarranted sense of entitlement by too many across all sectors of our society. These things contribute to a greed that affects us all and if we want a better society, we should be fighting to bring back integrity, vision and purpose to how we live, not just as a society but as individuals. I believe it starts with being responsible for ourselves because it is only through self-responsibility that we can ever hope to have the resources to help and be responsible with others.

The opportunity to rise up out our current circumstance and earn a better life for ourselves is often called the American Dream but it isn't exclusively American. Millions strive for it around the world because it is simply human nature to hope for something better. I think there is something not quite right in attacking those who have achieved it. When we divide ourselves into the 1%,the 53% or the 99%, we lose sight of what undermines our society. I believe we need to look beyond the privileges that others have that we ourselves don't and look at how those in all sectors of our society abuse our freedom to pursue the dream for their own selfish ends.

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