On money and wealth

Hi All,

I'm pretty well off with a bank account at a private family owned bank ,as are my siblings, although I drive a mini (with pink, fluffy, fury dice of course!) . We're mostly businessmen/ businesswomen /merchants / entrepreneurs , which has been our family tradition for centuries. I was taught how to haggle by my grandfather, as he had in the Souk of Baghdad.

What keeps us on the ground is that because we're orphans , we were raised by our grandparents and great uncle. Both were of the wartime generation , the decades of rationing and my grandparents lost practically everything , having fled Iraq in 1941 with only two suitcases . They fought during the war and rebuilt their lives in Britain , but didn't let money change them in selfish uncaring or worshippers of wealth ( a form of idolatrous worship) , although rather sadly they kept packed suitcases under the bed , just in case Jews had to flee again .

My bro Sam worked at burger king making cheeseburgers of all things on the minimum wage ,after university and claims as a result he’s a fully trained chef (which is true in so much as he also did the vocational training and qualifications), but some of the stories he comes up with would fill an entire book.

My sister Rachel worked for a London merchant bank and underwriters , but found the culture ( not just the - British understatement alert - sexism ) of excessive spending repellent and left. There was the bonus season and some of them complained that £250,000 a year 'basic' and a £1,000,000 'bonus' was "like working for charity"(!).

In fact it was like this:

And as for money. It has a function, but doesn’t define whatever a person is or is not. I always think about this sketch and the guy in the red kippah reminds me of one of my bros , when I encounter money snobs: