Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Nobles Oblige

pronounced- No bless O-bleejj. My definition of this would be: Those of us who have not only survived but survived well have an obligation to help those less fortunate.

I can count on only one hand the people in my life who I grew up with that are now in this category and among these people I am probably the least social but all of us help those less fortunate in any way we can. Writing my blog is one of the ways I try to help. When I almost died starting my first website in 1999 and putting online books that I have written that are like in many ways my own personal Biblical mystical stories that span thousands of my lifetimes on earth and beyond.

One of the hardest things I have learned in being fortunate is that generally people less fortunate don't have any real idea what it is actually like being fortunate because until I was I didn't understand either. I used to resent and hate all wealthy people because I (just like many or most middle and lower class people) was ignorant of what it is really like.

The first thing that is different than what I thought is that as a wealthier than average person one knows to NEVER spend ones principal for principal is the basis of your wealth. Only ones dividends or interest one can afford to spend and stay wealthy and most of the time it is wiser to reinvest ones dividends and interest and then that becomes principal too.

When a poor person looks at a wealthy persons house or car or lifestyle he or she doesn't see all this. This poorer person assumes wrongly that everything is liquid which it is not. Usually less than 1 to 5 percent of that rich persons wealth is actually liquid(liquid means in cash and usable) unless that wealthy person is preparing for a new investment or traveling or buying something(and most of the time unless it is a car it is a new investment). Because a car is not an investment in the classical sense and neither is a house with a subprime. Both from this point of view would be considered to some degree bad investments because both are risky investments.The only exception to this would be an antique or rare car and even then if it got into an accident it would be a bad investment unless it was well insured.

That being said nobles oblige is the obligation of those who have become successful to help and mentor those less fortunate. What this has meant to me is to mentor those young people that I felt were safe to mentor. and Mentoring means to guide and to help keep alive mentally, physically, psychologically in every way on into adulthood.

Weighing how to help and who can be helped is a very difficult thing for affluent people and should not in any way be underestimated. This can consume a lot of time because though most affluent people want to help in any way they can most ways are not safe for them so they have to be very careful how they help people.

Poor people don't realize that when one is poor in a way they have nothing to lose. Once one has wealth and position in life there is a lot to lose and if one has worked very hard to obtain where they are in life they don't want to lose it and so this makes it doubly hard to move forward. It is like when one is young and free they are like a World War II PT boat but as family, wealth and position is garnered one becomes more like a battleship; huge, fast but hard to turn and to stop or to get going quickly like a PT boat. So, when you are young take advantage of your youth and mobility because one day you might be wealthy and have to be very careful of your every movement.

When you become wealthy remember nobles oblige and your obligation to mankind to help and to give back for all you have received. And remember to not go crazy with this just know that God or life (depending on your belief system) will convey to you exactly what to do for what people or life in every moment. In this way you can have peace with your wealth knowing you are doing your best to help in every moment

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