Money

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I found two $10 dollar bills, one$5 dollar bill, and one $1 dollar bill while I was sorting through a final box of loose papers.
The bills were from the eighties; I remember them from my childhood.
They were folded, but still crisp as new bills are.
The sight of them excited me, as the sight of money always does.
I had been hoping in a little way that I would find some money in one of the packed boxes in the garage and I found some.
Not just a few idle bits of loose change, but $26 of cold, hard cash.

Cold, Hard Cash

A byword in our society.
A common description of money.
The phrase evokes the image of icicles and wastelands, barren and lifeless.

I think about gangsters and black briefcases.
Green bills flicking through counting machines as guys wearing green teller hats count the bills.

Dominance

Historically speaking mankind has always had a need to demonstrate dominance.
The accumulation of possessions has symbolically represented worth.
The invention of currency allowed for the demonstration of wealth to be shrunk down into a smaller physical manifestation .
Practical: millions of dollars of wealth takes up less room thanmillions of dollars worth of possessions.
Evolution.

Another Envelope

I have been spending days and days sorting through boxes full of assorted envelopes.
My Mom and Dad have accumulated bank statements for years.
Insurance information. Old coupon books. Real Estate advertising.

I sorted through envelope after envelope.
There must have been hundreds, maybe a thousand plus.
I had gotten good at opening an envelope quickly, assessing the contents and either tearing them to pieces (money stuff like bank statements), recycling them, or placing them in a bin designated for a specific family member (usually my Mom or Dad).

I saw so many pieces of paper.

When I got to that envelope of money, the correlation was immediate.
Countless pieces of paper.
Money is paper.
Why don't I shred this paper?

Voice: "THAT paper has value! DON'T shred it!"

Why?
Why does this paper have value?
Because our society has all mutually agreed that it has value.

[STOP]

That's it, isn't it.

The only reason money has value is because we all agree it does.
It's just an illusion.
It's just perception.

Obi Wan: "It's just your point of view."

So, if I say money has no value, it does not.

Ok.
Money has no value.
I said it.
Does it still have value?
How do I feel about it now?
I know I still need to use it, but, it doesn't scare me as much anymore.

Symbols

Money is a symbolic object.
Symbolic of possession.
He/She who has more is to be respected and feared.
That's what money symbolizes to me: fear.
Respect?
Repect to me means liking something, feeling good towards it.
Money to me is cold and heartless and a symbol of separation, of violent segregation.

Money.
I look forward to the disappearance of this word.