Image by Gino Crescoli from Pixabay
“Look, I understand that this aspect of the business would be better under this party's policy instead of the other – but the whole point of understanding that I am wealthy means I don't have to do unwise things based on only one aspect for money. I have to look at the needs of the entire country, and not only how I am living, but I have grandchildren that have to live in this world and three of them are old enough so that I'm going to be meeting my great-grandchildren in a few years. I don't need to vote based on who is going to put more money in my pocket – there's so much more to life, and I'm past the stage of my life in which I didn't know that.”
Mr. Thomas Stepforth Sr., 66 years old, billionaire, paused.
“Look, man, if I'm not voting based on getting more money in my pocket, you can forget about me voting to put more money in yours. We're the same age. You have half as much time to even spend your money because what you need to do is stop smoking. You're out here worried about Donald Trump and Joe Biden and who is going to do what, but you can't import a new set of lungs. You're worried about who is going to get what from China at the lowest cost, but you can't stay out of the corner store for cigarettes. At some point, man, you gotta start making the main thing the main thing. Your grandchildren need you to be here.”
“You know,” eleven-year-old Velma said to her grandmother, 66-year-old Mrs. Velma Stepforth, “Pop-Pop really does seem to be trying to help his rich friends, because it's like you've been telling us: money is paper and life is life.”
Mrs. Stepforth's mind went back … her granddaughter was 11, and remembered how many years the two Stepforth grandparents had lived separately: a decade. It had taken Mr. Stepforth, a stubborn man, that long to get the point … but she had never gone with another man, because it was him that she loved … and in the end, he had realized he could make all the billions he wanted, but it was her that he loved.
“What happens, Velma, is that people gotta figure out what they love,” the older Velma said to the younger one. “This country worships money, so, we grow up and can get confused. Money will let you buy all that can be bought … but you can't add a day to your life, and health to your body, and you can't buy love, or time with those you love. When you live in a country that sold our ancestors' bodies and would have sold our souls if it could have, it can get really confusing, but we have to call on God and stay focused.”
“I see that,” the younger Velma said. “I love you and Pop-Pop and I'm not ready for y'all to go to Heaven, so I know the friend Pop-Pop is talking to has grandchildren that really do need him. I'm going to pray that he stop worrying about the election and his money and whatever is coming from China, and that he call on God, get focused, love God and his wife and his children and his grandchildren more than he loves cigarettes, and quit smoking.”
“And I am too, baby … let's pray together.”
