I’ve always felt I can contribute more after achieving financial success than I ever could without it. Basically, if I really do well, then I really can do good.
I think Bill Gates epitomizes this, through his foundation. I know this is highly debateable, but I’ve always felt this way nonetheless.
I don’t necessarily think one’s vocation is the deciding factor in whether or not one is a man, though. My job is what I do, but it isn’t necessarily what I am.[/quote]
Your job, for most people, is who you are for 8 hours a day. I agree that my job is not who I am, but it is a part of who I am.
If I wasn’t contributing to soctiety in some way, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror at night. I have a great deal of respect for almost all professions. If you are a florist you bring happiness and beauty into the world.
If you are a refuse collector, you clean up after your fellow man. If your are a stay at home parent, you are taking care of and preparing another life to go into the world. I can’t have respect for someone who choses to sit in a chair and play a game for a living. I have a tough time giving respect to professional athletes, but I truly can not give any respect to someone who doesn’t even play a real game, they play a game on TV.
It is the worst example of the decline of western civilization that someone can make a few hundred thousand doing nothing.