I have one of those brains that remembers things – good, bad, indifferent things; not everything, but stories I’ve heard, endless odd bits of trivia, for sure, and stories like this one, published who knows where (now that I’ve forgotten!) about Joseph Heller after or around his death in 1999:
Kurt Vonnegut was once at a party – hosted by a billionaire at this palatial home on Shelter Island – with Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22; Vonnegut asked Heller, “How does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?” Heller responded, “I’ve got something he can never have.” Vonnegut persisted, “What on earth could that be, Joe?” And Joseph Heller responded, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
What constitutes enough? Each person must, I suppose, define that for themselves. This past week Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire. That he does more damage than good with his money is debatable, I suppose. It is, however, inarguable that Musk openly encouraged, with his huge platform, protected by his massive wealth and what one safely assumes is an army of security, the violence that also, this week, engulfed parts of Belfast in flames. Consequence free living is a perk of great wealth combined with whiteness and the male gender.
We learned about the Robber Barons in school, but if we were taught that they were bad, or good, or somewhere in-between, I don’t remember. When is enough enough? And are we on the verge of another revolution against the monied classes? I hope so. Watching and reading about the grifting and outright theft of public monies by the current administration is making life harder for me right now. I am listening to fewer pods, reading less of the news, and when one of my friends asked me if I had seen such-and-such report on Maddow, I laughed, responding, ‘No! Good Goddess no. I can’t. I simply can’t watch it anymore, for mental health reasons!’
Funny, that. Because to this freaking libtard, wealth is health, both mental and physical. Wealth is watching a red-breasted hummingbird outside sipping at my iris and poppies and early flowering blooms. Wealth is a pile of books to read (right now, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw’s Backtalker and oh it’s good and, despite many differences, very relatable) and time to read them in, as well as time to write and write and write s’more. Wealth is friends to laugh with and good food to cook.
What constitutes enough? I don’t think these bottom line insecure dweebs (Musk, Zuck, Altman, Thiel, Bezos, etc.) will ever be satisfied, will ever know or feel what it means to have enough, to be satisfied and content with what they have. Maybe one day they’ll practice philanthropy and decency at the same level to which they’re practicing grasping, manipulating, and perverting power. However, knock wood, I hope I hope I hope the majority of us have had enough, enough of the greed and arrogance running rampant through our businesses and government. We’ll see.
Gandhi’s Seven Social Sins are as follows (often referred to as the Seven Deadly Sins) Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; commerce without morality; science without humanity; religion without sacrifice; politics without principle.
*Ye Olde Poste Scripte: I know I’m a petty bitch, but watching the Orange Buffoon’s name come off the Kennedy Center gave me so much joy!!!