That stupid sign

I have always said that while it is important often to know the source of an issue, the question that always arises afterward is "Now what?"  You know why you are the way that you are.  What are you going to do about it?  Never has this been more evident than in the case of my millionaire obsession.

I am haunted by wanting to be a millionaire.  And the thing is, I am not avaricious.  I am for the most part more than happy with my circumstances (other than my retirement picture).  But still, I read books like Think and Grow Rich and the Millionaire Mind.  I attend seminars on real estate and investing.  I have tried a couple of times at starting a mail order business.  But why?

That stupid sign.  My father was a garbage man and he did a lot of salvaging old items.  At one point, he found an old front license plate (which we could not use in Ohio, a two plate state) that he wired to our back gate.  It said, and I quote "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"  This question has altered my life forever.

See, I am smart.  How smart?  Smart enough.  I am not the smartest man in the world, but I am closer to him than the dumbest man in the world.  (How close I am to the wisest man in the world is up for debate, BTW.)

And so, even though I have ample empirical evidence of my intelligence, I rose to the debate.  If the ultimate proof of my brain power to my father's stupid sign is becoming rich, then I am going to become rich.

Over time, this has morphed a bit into my own desires beyond that: freedom, financial security, largess for others.  But that is at the core of it.  It has served me well.  As I said, I have a pretty comfortable life, especially compared to my distant relatives in Africa for instance.  I have managed to avoid some of the financial pitfalls of life (but not all, let me assure you).  But I still want to prove I can do it.

Although I would take lottery winnings.

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Much like with My Life, there's only one song to play here.