The Great Gatsby

Yet another reason I could never be a fucking liberal:

Someone I used to know turned me back on to The Great Gatsby, arguing that it was a perfect summary of wealth and class in America. To a large extent, I agree. There are the old money people, looking down their noses at everyone; there are the nuveau riche, tastelessly flaunting their money; there are the guys that just want to impress the girl; there are the poor guys, getting used and hurt by everyone, including each other; there are the crooks, ruthlessly making money off all of it.

And, there is the morally ambivalent narrator, caught between the worlds of the working class and the wealthy, the tastefully old and the tastelessly fun, the straight laced and the hopelessly bent, and seeing the flaws in everything and everyone.

What makes the heroes and villains, doesn't really turn out to be wealth, although that certainly plays a part in what sort of damage they do. No, what makes the heroes and villains is how they treat other people. At some point, the old money were new money, the new money were poor, and the poor were jerks to one another. Even the narrator enjoys the ride, all the while feeling disgust for the way his compatriots treat one another.

We heard a sermon that touched on money a couple weeks ago. That, in and of itself, isn't bad, although the subject gets tiresome. What left me really non-plussed was the hypocrisy of the preacher, and, frankly, most of the preachers I've been hearing on this subject lately.

This preacher led a double life, first as a successful corporate opperative, then as a minister. While I actually think that part is cool, what bothered me was the way they attacked "the system," and talked about how there would be plenty for everyone, if we stopped hoarding for ourselves to secure our own future. Besides having set themselves up very well in their former life, this person, as a clergy member, is in on one of the best retirement plans there is. As another minister I know recently put it, "Thank God for JP Morgan! He came up with the best retirement plan for clergy. We know we're all set."

Tell me again about dissasembling the economic system...

The morally ambivalent narrator in me wonders, if I stop worrying about my future, if I give away my money instead of saving it for the rainy day I know is coming, will God take care of me, or will He be annoyed that I blew it? Was putting me in a place and time when I can do some things to take care of myself part of His way of taking care of me? "Here kid, I put you in a spot where you can take care of yourself if you want to work hard. Once you get yourself squared away, you better not forget those other folks that didn't get your chance. If your brother blows it, or just falls on hard times, remember the story of the Prodigal Son: 'All that I have is yours.' But that doesn't mean it's just for you."

I'm just not convinced when the rich tell me about the failings of the system that made them rich, and tell me not to participate in it. It's real easy to destroy something once you've gotten what you wanted out of it.