Real Wealth

2600 years ago, Aesop told a fable about a miser. The miser was a penny pinching, tight wade. He saved and saved his entire life. Eventually, he took everything he owned to the market, and sold it. In return, he purchased a lump of gold. He took the lump of gold, and buried it in a hole in the ground. Every day, he would go and look at his lump of gold. One day, he got to where he had buried the lump of gold, and after digging the hole in the ground, and found that someone had stolen the lump of gold. He was distraught. His entire life savings had been stolen. Learning of what had happened to the old miser, his neightbour suggested that he find a stone and bury it in the same place. The miser could then imagine that the stone was his lump of gold. The miser was upset. Why would he bury a stone in the ground? 'Well,' his neighbour replied. 'It will be performing the exact same service. After all, when you had the gold, you made no use of it what-so-ever!'

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The moral of the story, for those of you who didn't follow it, is that unless you are using your wealth (or talents or anything), then they really don't exist. In order to possess something truely, you must use what you have. Otherwise, it's about as useful as a stone buried in the ground.