When the ‘poor little rich kid’ is right

The guy who invented Minecraft (it’s some kind of game, apparently) sold his company and became a billionaire. Good for him. He’s not happy about it.

Here are some of his comments on Twitter

The comments on the article are all ‘My heart bleeds – not’ and ‘Why not give it all away and be a poor struggling worker drone again?’.

That second tweet is right though. Dead right. Money is not, or should not be, the ultimate goal of life. For the article commenters it seems that’s what their life is all about.

Money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Too much of it is the same as too much of anything else. It will destroy you.

I’ve been running along the breadline for years and you know what? It’s great. Really. If I want something I can save for it or work for it but if I had billions, what would I do? I really would have no more reason to do anything. This guy bought a big house in Beverley Hills where he can live among people who care passionately about money even though he doesn’t. That was a bad move.

If I ever won the lottery, which is unlikely as I never buy a ticket, sure, I’d take the money. I’d still have a little job somewhere so I could be among real people and I certainly would not be partying with shallow, vacuous ‘celebs’. I’d be down the pub with those considered to be the dregs.

One thing I learned while homeless is that the real people are mostly down there among the ‘dregs’. Those who say what they think, not what they are taught to think. Those who fight to survive every day. They are not stupid (there are some) because the stupid don’t usually survive long in that part of society.

Unless they have strength or some other quality they can sell, they don’t last long.

Take the challenge out of life and it becomes boring and unbearable. There has to be something to deal with. Something to fix. Something to keep that brain working and the body active. Otherwise, what’s the point of having either?

It’s true there have been times when spontaneous donations to this blog have been all that have kept me from the gutter. It’s true that I’ve had to sell things I made that I will never be able to make again just to pay the latest bills. I’ll never see those things again but I made them and they still exist. They are out there somewhere. They are part of this world and I did that. That is a really good feeling.

So much more of a good feeling than looking at a bank statement. I don’t usually get any kind of good feeling looking at mine.

Where is the sense of achievement in looking at some printed numbers? Markus Persson has just found the truth in ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’. Yes, you have to have some in order to pay the taxes but when it goes into overload, what do you do then?

Well first of all you pay more taxes. Then you get calls from new ‘friends’ who just need a teeny loan of maybe a few thousand. You cannot tell friend from freeloader any more and you don’t have to do a damn thing to pay your next bill or find your next meal.

It does sound good to be able to sit beside your own swimming pool every day, sipping tequila sunrise and scratching your arse. I could do that for a few weeks – but forever? No.

If I was a millionaire now I would not trust any approach from any woman. As it is, I have nothing so I know it’s me she wants. There isn’t anything else 😉

And that’s a good feeling too. I can make the money later.

Not having to ever worry how you’re going to pay the next bill would be nice. That’s undeniable. And yet, take it too far and all the challenge is gone from life. With it goes the value.

If I want something I have to work and save to get it. When I do, I treasure it. I put some of my life into getting it. If I could just go out and buy it straight away then it won’t mean anything, really. It’s just a thing I bought. It might be very expensive but it has no value.

So what should Markus do? Anything he damn well pleases. If it were me I’d opt for a little cottage somewhere quiet and write crazy books whether anyone wanted to read them or not. I’d have a little job in a local shop to get me out of the house once in a while. I’d make things with no sense of urgency and sell or give them to other people because I don’t have room for them all.

But I would stay away from those who think life is all about making as much money as possible. That kind of thinking leads to no real life at all.

It’s not the money that’s making Markus miserable. It’s how he’s using it.