Return and Impact
Jan. 8, 2024
Why do people envy the rich? Why do they believe that money — gobs of it — will make them happy? It’s a story as old as time, and yet these stories so often uncover the shallowness, the superficiality of the lives of the rich and famous. The scandal bred of boredom, or more likely, of some inexorable search for meaning, for validation, acknowledgement, acceptance. None of this can money buy.
Is it innately and inescapably human, this lust for wealth? I don’t think so. It’s more like a youthful fascination, obsession even, at that time of development when we are more prone to obsession, not yet possessed of a maturity that lets us see beyond the sparkle, the temptation. Are we as humans at a point where we can collectively rise above the temptation? Into our maturity, with the lessons of youth to guide us toward wisdom?
What would it take? What would it look like? How would it happen? Which would come first: the wealthy tiring of the pretense or the rest tiring of the chase? A litte of both perhaps. Is this what I’m witnessing on the former side when I hear people talk about investment without regard for return? It’s a start, I believe. And what about on the latter side? It’s hard to believe the masses are willing to give up the chase when all we see in the media are more and more shows about rich housewives or people willing to prostitute their obesity in a reality show. But does anyone really watch these shows? Is it possible that more people, those in the middle, are able to find peace and meaning in their place?
We only see the extremes, thanks to popular media. Can we evolve despite them? Or will it take catastrophe to force evolution? Can we use media to guide more positive, productive evolution?
What if I just let these words flow, seep out into the world and didn’t worry so much about how or even if someone ever finds them. Just put them out there. Give people something other than hype and gloom and doom and distraction and fantasy. Something to chew on, ponder, divert attention toward action.
The first thing I’d write is something about the false promise of impact and return. We’ve been trying for so long to prove that you can “do well by doing good” but in so doing, we’ve hampered our ability to do good by burdening investments with a requirement for market rate returns. We caved, capitulated. We played their game, or tried to. No more. At this point, when I see a promise or even report of market rate returns, I’m automatically skeptical of impact. It’s a turn off. But that’s just me. Can I get others to that point? That’s what I need to be writing about.