Every one wants to be great – whether it is in their eyes, the eyes of their family or the eyes of the world. Status is important in all societies and all level of society. There are a limited number of ways that most people can achieve the status of great – usually it involves power, position or wealth. The most important factor is that the person feels a sense of self-worth and self-esteem.
The problem with these status points in modern society is that they aren’t based on anything that is real. They are just perceptions or masks of reality that have no substance. In the past decades and centuries a person’s status was tangible. He was the one who feed the community by hunting down the wooly mammoth. She was the one that educated all the family’s children. He was the one that slayed the dragon to protect the village.
There are no wooly mammoths or dragons any more. It can be harder to find a position or place that offers power even though the world is smaller through technology. In an attempt to reach that place of greatness that is so important to the human nature many people are turning to temporary and often destructive options.
Wealth today is measured by toys and material possession or the ability to acquire them. These illusions of grandeur can not stand against a challenge. Perceived wealth, or created position from that perceived wealth, will crash to the ground when faced with adversity.
Society has made credit as important as true created wealth and it is causing people to literally live on borrowed time. Eventually the credit will run dry and the house of cards will come tumbling down – often crushing the person or family beneath it. Divorce, suicide and substance abuse are readily traced back to financial woes created by the desire to have more than a person could afford.
The higher the illusion grows then the harder the fall will be. Losing financial status is painful. Having the world know about the fall can be impossible to live with. Sometimes the humiliation (or perceived humiliation) pushes a person over the edge.
Instead of being a society of integrity and acts the world has become a society of perception. The high credit rating means an ability to make high payments and borrow lots of money. A big house means a family is important. Wearing nice clothes and driving new cars reveals the value of the man. Perception is 90% of reality for many people in society.
Just look at the current financial crises. When compared to history, today is a walk in the park. Incomes are up, interest rates are at historical lows and opportunities are more abundant than ever before. One quick glance at the news – print, radio or television – and the perception is that the world is coming to an end, at least the financial world. And yet those banks that followed practices based in sound business principles are still lending money. Credit card offers still fill the junk mail pile. The average person has seen little, if any change in the day to day life.
Most people still say that the economy is in trouble when polled. This is because the perception of the situation is overwhelming the reality. It is time for the country and the people to turn back to the basics of life and put the perception far behind.
The good news is that there is hope on the horizon for the people and the nation. Individuals are learning that a credit rating is just a credit rating and that it’s not a license or a requirement to spend out of control. The ability to pay and the need for the item are becoming just as important as the credit score. Integrity is making a come back in society and it is bringing the real understanding of value and self-worth with it.
Next: No More Credit Walls