Which person are you?

I used to live in Australia (one of the best places to live in the world when it comes to weather!) and one day whilst visiting a friend's family I noticed a printed cartoon on the household fridge.

This was back in the late 2000s and what a time that was.  Free from social media garbage and all the other mind distractions of today.

Anyway this cartoon deeply resonated with me, it's never left my subconscious.  This cartoon talks about net worth.  Which is totally invisible.

Let me prescribe a very realistic scenario.

Today you're going to go around work, minding your own business.  And perhaps you'll see something like this along the street.  A bunch of normal looking people.

Another day in paradise..?

On the far left, we have the corporate worker.  Next to him we have the recent graduate.  Then we have the jogger.  Further down we have the beggar, the mother with child and the driver next to the vehicle.

Everything in this image is visible to your eye.  And everyone has a role.  Who would you be in this case?  Probably something in between.  Would you want to be a fancy corporate worker?  Or the jogger?  Graduate?  Someone with a fancy car?  Would anyone pick to be the beggar?

Now assume you stumbled upon some magic glasses.  You put them on.  And suddenly, you have the power to see everyone's bank balance.

The invisible becomes visible

Again on the far left, we have the corporate worker, who you discovered has negative 25K.  Next to him we have the recent graduate who has negative 75K.  Then we have the jogger who has negative 4.2K.  Further down we have the beggar who has positive 800, the mother with child with negative 15K and the driver next to the vehicle with negative 28K.

Who would you want to be now?  Just FYI, a negative net worth means overall, you actually owe money.

Turns out the beggar has the only one with positive net worth.  Everyone else is enslaved to someone else with their debt.

It turns out in this case, the only person that is financially free of debt, is the beggar.  Imagine that.  But why would you want to be a beggar right?  I mean look at him.  He's just begging.  He doesn't have a fancy life.  He doesn't have a fancy car.  By every measure he has a totally shitty life, at least from this visual.

Freedom comes from not being indebted.  What this image conveys is only visual.  What you can see.  However, true freedom is not what you can see, it's not what's obvious, it's invisible.  The beggar in this case, could be anyone.  They don't have to look like a beggar.  In fact, this beggar could be very well your neighbour.  The street cleaner.  The gardener.  The old man down the street.

This reminds me of my former work place.  A place full of corporate workers.  Seemingly educated.

Yet, a large majority of them have taken 50 year loans.  And some of them are well over 40 and approaching 50.  I have no doubt they'll be dead before their loans get paid off.  Yet, they decided to take them.  I'm not sure who's more of a genius in this situation, the one loaning the money or the borrower?  Either way it's financial suicide and slavery.  Heck, even a 20 year old taking on a 50 year loan is asking for trouble.  It's pure financial madness.

The modern slave today doesn't look obvious.  They might look normal, "wealthy", live in a home, own a vehicle.  Like in the comic.  Posting fancy instagram images.  Pure visuals.  What lies beneath is more insidious.  What you do not see.

Now here's the original cartoon.  It's not as fancy, but the meaning it conveys is timeless.

This is from the late 2000s

The genius of this cartoon is that it's highlighting in a very obvious way that society today is totally an illusion.  Looking nice.  Having a ton of stuff.  Going to work to buy stuff to impress people who in reality don't give a rat's ass about you, or your stuff.  Heck they can't even remember what they ate last week do you honestly think they care what you wear or have?  Meanwhile the beggar is the one that's actually really ahead in life with positive net worth and zero shackles.  The rest are simply slaves.  Without even knowing that they are.  You're probably one of those slaves.  And you know what, it's not right.  A society of indebted slaves is no way to live.

Just because everyone is a slave doesn't mean you have to join the slave pool.  Being ignorant is no way to live.