Are the rich truly free of worry? Or is it possible they are a bit more
distressed than most commoners like you and me?
Let's think about
it. Being rich is not easy at all. You have constant worry -- about your
possessions, your protection, your investments ... It never ends!
Imagine having to hire a multitude of personnel to guarantee a
semi-quasi "peaceful" and less-stressful life! Lawyers, tax-consultants,
insurance agents, investment advisers, body guards ... This list could
go on and on.
"Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for
the rich to enter the kingdom of God!'" (Luke 18:24, NIV2)
When
oil was found in Pithole, Pennsylvania, in 1865, it attracted a lot of
people whose only goal was to get rich quick. But they soon realized
there was a price tag attached to their dream. Equipment was costly,
rent was costly, the parcel of "promised" land was costly, food was more
costly in this neighbourhood than anywhere else, barrels were costly,
and even the transport of oil barrels was costly.
It's true that
at first the transport fee was feasible: 1$ per barrel, which would be
somewhere in the neighborhood of 20$ in our day and age. But almost
overnight the charge tripled to 3$ a barrel! Oh, there was a "good"
reason behind the price increase: Carrying 360 pound barrels over steep,
muddy trails shortened the lives of the horses and mules employed in
this endeavour. And since they worked non-stop around the clock, they
needed to be replaced regularly!
(Wait. What about the plight of
these poor animals?)
Then came Samuel Van Syckel, who saw an
opportunity to become rich by cutting the cost of transportation back to
1$ a barrel. And he wouldn't need the help of donkeys or horses! Instead
he built 5.5 miles of 2 inch wrought iron pipe, from Pithole to Oil
Creek. In fact, he was the first one to successfully transport oil via a
pipeline!
Until lengths of the pipe mysteriously were torn up in
the dark, that is. It seems he had made some enemies with the rough,
tough teamsters who ended with no more cargo or dying horses!
No
problem, armed guards were hired to patrol the line.
And you can
well imagine that this was not the end of the story. More complications
were foreseen in the near future. We are talking about the mighty dollar
after all!
Being rich isn't really a piece of pecan pie (My
favourite desert!). Furthermore, the rich still have to wonder, like any
of us: "What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Mark 8:37,
NIV2).
After all, money can buy neither peace nor happiness!
Rob Chaffart
Who Broke my Pipeline? Becoming Rich Without a Dime, Part 4
Today's Bible Verse:
"Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways
are perverse." (Proverbs 28:6)
Who Broke my Pipeline? Becoming Rich Without a Dime, Part 4
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