Events of the past couple of years proved something that, my whole life, I’d understood intuitively and had observed time and again. Money that comes too easy never sticks around and the wrong kind of money can never help you do the right kind of things. Like trying to hold water in your hands, it’ll trickle clean through your fingers, before evaporating into nothingness.

I’ve seen a hundred ghetto-millionaires who today, don’t have two pennies to rub together-my father included. Most couldn’t begin to tell you how they lost their fortunes. Like a homing pigeon, bad money will always find it’s way back from where it came - and in my experience that’s usually the streets.

Even fortunes earned the right way will fly out of the door, a thousand times faster than they flew in. Money that has never earned respect, sure as hell won’t give any in return. Look at some of the young entertainers out there today, mak-ing millions in moments and spending it twice as fast. These young kids can’t imagine their gravy train ever running dry and when it does, they’ve no place to go. Superstar or street hustler, it makes no difference when you’re broke.

I faced some harsh financial realities, but in the process something extraordinary happened. I no longer defined myself by the magnitude of my wealth. I wore my cap to the wind. I knew that whatever I achieved, it would be down to my character, spirit, talent and tenacity.

Now that felt good!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 at 4:50 am and is filed under Tattoos On My Soul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.