The News:
The small Maltese of the polemic real state mogul Leona Helmsley, who passed away… will continue living an opulent life, while two of the four grandchildren of the woman, whose avarice was proverbial, did not receive anything as inheritance… Helmsley, who was the owner of a luxury hotel chain, imprisoned by fiscal evasion and nicknamed "the queen of the wickedness" because her famous arrogant and insensitive statements, left to her beloved white Maltese called Trouble a fund of 12 million dollars… her will establishes that when Trouble pass away, be placed next to her in the mausoleum… Helmsley and her husband, Harry, controlled a real state emporium valued in 5,000 million dollars including the Empire State Building. She had a lawsuit in 1989 for fiscal evasion in a famous process in which former employees described her like a tyrant that tormented both workers and executives. In a certain moment one of the former employees mentioned that she once declared: "People like us don’t pay taxes. Only the low class pays taxes"… (reforma.com)
Comment:
It happens to be that in our home we have a Maltese (I don’t think that it’s pure, and never we will know for sure, because one day it just appeared at the door and we adopt it in order to save it from the doghouse, but according to photos, it’s the race that resembles the most), and although we love it, is not going to receive a single dollar of inheritance. In any case, what is going to do a millionaire puppy? To buy imported dog food? To buy a collar with diamond incrustations? To buy bones of Argentinian veal?
The small dog already lost what were the most important things for it, assuming that it’s like any other dog: the walks with its owner and the caresses that surely she provided. Why would want a dog 12 million dollars?
Nobody of course is envying the small animal (I hope). Still sometimes the humans feel a certain secret desire for inheriting that quantity (even a million dollars could do), but when we think it twice, it isn’t important. To dare inherit her dog, this lady evidently had conflicts with her relatives and she chastised them with her testament. The money served as a source of conflict. And that seems to be a tragic constant.
The news says that she was a "… tyrant that tormented both workers and executives." It seems that her relatives were not the only ones that didn’t loved her. Is it worth to forge a fortune that way? Generating so many grudges around her, could she be happy?
And the jewel of her statements: "People as us don’t pay taxes. Only the low class pays taxes." For her information, that perhaps she doesn’t need anymore, the King of Kings paid taxes. Fair or unfair, we cannot go through life evading taxes or any other obligation established by the authorities.
What does the Bible says:
When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”
He said, “Yes.”
And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”
Peter said to Him, “From strangers.”
Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:24-27)
Jesus emphasized that He didn’t have to pay (unfair tax), however He did it. So we don’t have to seek for excuses or speak badly of the authorities, if Jesus paid, it doesn’t matter how aristocratic or low social class we feel, we should pay our obligations.
And besides, based on the story of the news, the part that we take away from our fellow citizens by not paying taxes is going to be eaten by a puppy as dog food and fine bones.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta money. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta money. Mostrar todas las entradas
lunes, 3 de septiembre de 2007
viernes, 8 de junio de 2007
Returns Wallet with 2,700 Dollars
The News:
A homeless person found… a wallet with 2,700 dollars, checks and several credit cards in a square of the Argentine province of Salta and returned it to his owner… 42-year-old Ricardo Ismael Medina, a man who survives selling cardboards and plastic that finds in the streets, found the 'treasure' under a bench in a square… “The truth is that I did not hesitate a moment to return it because it was something that wasn’t mine and if my friends had found out that I keep something not mine, they would turn around their faces”, said to the press Medina, who lives in an improvised house to the side of a monument, along with a group of dogs and eleven cats… On having discovered that inside the wallet there were one thousand and 100 dollars and 5 thousand Argentine pesos (approximately one thousand 600 dollars), he went to a nearby police office to denounce the find, and soon there was located the lucky owner of the wallet, who granted to Medina a reward of 300 Argentine pesos (96.7 dollars). (reforma.com)
Comment:
Is still there someone who doubts that honest people exist? Ricardo Ismael not only is honest, but a real hero. Can you imagine the happiness of the owner when he recovered his wallet? It is not mentioned why he was carrying so much money, but unless he belongs to the Forbes richest men’s list, nobody can spare 2,700 dollars.
Many people, perhaps the majority, still believes that money brings happiness, or at least, facilitate it. False! Generally the people get entangled in vicious circles to obtain more money that will increase needs that will require more money, and so on, until everything ends in ruins, destruction, or bitterness. And please note that I said “generally.” There is no law that prohibits rich people to be happy; it’s only that they achieve it “no matter” the money.
Generally the people with a lot of money worry more about taking care of their patrimony, often they have to hire bodyguards for personal protection and that of their relatives, social commitments remove them from family life and the spouse and children suffer for it, they lose contact with the human side of their employees and normally sacrifice compassion in exchange for efficiency, they lose notion of the social reality and poverty of the world, etc., not for nothing Jesus said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).
The man in the news remained more satisfied with 97 reward dollars that if he had kept the wallet, which would produce in him nervousness, he would had to lie to his friends, hide from them and perhaps lose his friendship. Without doubt he chose his friends instead of a bunch of dollars. Wouldn’t you have done the same? Shouldn’t you do the same, in case of facing a similar dilemma?
Did you ever give money to a friend and he never returned it to you? And did the friendship cool down later? Mhh! I suppose that I am going in the wrong direction… I am guessing here, but I would be ready to bet that our hero Ricardo Ismael shared the 97 dollars of the reward with his dogs and cats and felt happy when they waged the tail and purred.
What the Bible Says:
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:8-10).
How can we be vaccinated against the love of money? Paul offers us some advice: (1) let’s be satisfied with what we possess. Although we can plan to change our car, that shouldn’t make us take decisions that overwhelm us. (2) Let’s be careful of the methods about which we are thinking to make more money. (3) Let’s love the people more that the money and (4) let’s look for God more.
And a fifth advice, not from Paul, but indirect from Ricardo Ismael: let's adopt dogs and cats.
A homeless person found… a wallet with 2,700 dollars, checks and several credit cards in a square of the Argentine province of Salta and returned it to his owner… 42-year-old Ricardo Ismael Medina, a man who survives selling cardboards and plastic that finds in the streets, found the 'treasure' under a bench in a square… “The truth is that I did not hesitate a moment to return it because it was something that wasn’t mine and if my friends had found out that I keep something not mine, they would turn around their faces”, said to the press Medina, who lives in an improvised house to the side of a monument, along with a group of dogs and eleven cats… On having discovered that inside the wallet there were one thousand and 100 dollars and 5 thousand Argentine pesos (approximately one thousand 600 dollars), he went to a nearby police office to denounce the find, and soon there was located the lucky owner of the wallet, who granted to Medina a reward of 300 Argentine pesos (96.7 dollars). (reforma.com)
Comment:
Is still there someone who doubts that honest people exist? Ricardo Ismael not only is honest, but a real hero. Can you imagine the happiness of the owner when he recovered his wallet? It is not mentioned why he was carrying so much money, but unless he belongs to the Forbes richest men’s list, nobody can spare 2,700 dollars.
Many people, perhaps the majority, still believes that money brings happiness, or at least, facilitate it. False! Generally the people get entangled in vicious circles to obtain more money that will increase needs that will require more money, and so on, until everything ends in ruins, destruction, or bitterness. And please note that I said “generally.” There is no law that prohibits rich people to be happy; it’s only that they achieve it “no matter” the money.
Generally the people with a lot of money worry more about taking care of their patrimony, often they have to hire bodyguards for personal protection and that of their relatives, social commitments remove them from family life and the spouse and children suffer for it, they lose contact with the human side of their employees and normally sacrifice compassion in exchange for efficiency, they lose notion of the social reality and poverty of the world, etc., not for nothing Jesus said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).
The man in the news remained more satisfied with 97 reward dollars that if he had kept the wallet, which would produce in him nervousness, he would had to lie to his friends, hide from them and perhaps lose his friendship. Without doubt he chose his friends instead of a bunch of dollars. Wouldn’t you have done the same? Shouldn’t you do the same, in case of facing a similar dilemma?
Did you ever give money to a friend and he never returned it to you? And did the friendship cool down later? Mhh! I suppose that I am going in the wrong direction… I am guessing here, but I would be ready to bet that our hero Ricardo Ismael shared the 97 dollars of the reward with his dogs and cats and felt happy when they waged the tail and purred.
What the Bible Says:
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:8-10).
How can we be vaccinated against the love of money? Paul offers us some advice: (1) let’s be satisfied with what we possess. Although we can plan to change our car, that shouldn’t make us take decisions that overwhelm us. (2) Let’s be careful of the methods about which we are thinking to make more money. (3) Let’s love the people more that the money and (4) let’s look for God more.
And a fifth advice, not from Paul, but indirect from Ricardo Ismael: let's adopt dogs and cats.
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