Scrambling

Probably everyone knows about this guy Jordan Belfort, a filthy rich guy who got that way by legally selling stocks in the beginning (making $1 million a month) and later by doing illegal stuff. I read about him in The Australian. (We love The Australian.) Here's one thing he said:

The problem on Wall Street is this. You're not creating anything. There's no
satisfaction. The only barometer you have is money. And money has no meaning. So
what do you do? You try to attach meaning to the money by buying
possessions.1

This sounds like something from Ecclesiastes. It's funny because I'm afraid to say that I think of luxuriant possessions as evidence of having made it, as a display of mighty achievements. But he's saying that possessions are actually an attempt to put a face to meaningless achievements.



1 W Leith, "The Man Who Sold His Soul" in The Weekend Australian Magazine April 17-18 2010, p19.