Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust* consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust* consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Last week a painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt owned by a Montreal family was sold at auction. The pre-auction estimate was twenty five million and the actually selling price was forty million. This was a bit of bargain, Klimt-wise. Other paintings by the artist have sold for eighty seven and one hundred and twenty five million. I'm an art history grad and a big Klimt fan, but these prices border on obscene to me. I have to wonder whether the final bids have more to do with ego than value.
That said, how do we place a value on good and services? One of the stars of the World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujos, is now a free agent and the rumour is that he is seeking thirty million a year for a decade. Remember the blog where I pointed out that Pujos is a Christian and wondered how he could expect such an enormous contract or see this as consistent with his Christian faith. Some of you thought this was fine in the open market. Wouldn't it be interesting if Christian Albert offered to take a paltry million a season and to direct the rest to charitable causes. He could probably get by.
I have been known to say that we have our values upside down in our culture. The people who look after children and the elderly are paid peanuts. Meanwhile, the stars who play games to distract us are immensely wealthy, we pay a fortune for baubles, and those who probably wouldn't know one end of a hammer from the other but shuffle money around in computers live the proverbial "life of Reilly" (who was Reilly?)
What say you, wise readers? Is this just the way the world works, or do we expect change a la the Occupy Movement gang? Or the way Jesus taught his followers?
To be honest I have only half heartedly been following the Occupy movement. I get what they are about, but I'm not sure about what can be accomplished. Maybe I am just too tired right now to fully engage with current events. I don't know.|I guess my question is whether it is better to protest [which in a sense seems like a passive action] or to band together to produce something new. Complaining isn't new, it hasn't worked in the past, although I will agree that it is with legitamate cause and that it generates awareness. Unless I am missing something though, I don't see anything new, aside from the role of technology in gathering up the masses and moving them to various locations. That's alot of people, and thus a lot of power wasted in waving banners and yelling slogans. Maybe I have this wrong. Not sure, what it is that bothers me about this movement.
ReplyDeleteGetting more and more tired about these athletes making gazillions of dollars, while food banks seem to be feeding more and more people.
ReplyDeleteI could care less about the NBA strike, and in fact, hope they do walk out. Maybe it will awaken people to the incredible greed out there(I think both the owners and the players are able to get by on their millions), and some fans will not want to fork out their hard earned money when the NBA returns.
$300 million dollars?!! Come on, get over yourself! Fat contracts and big egos is what it's all about it seems.