I had an interesting conversation with a friend of a friend last night. It got me thinking of wealth, and distribution or wealth, and personal responsibility, and all that. My wife and I are on a “strip-away-unecessary-stuff” kick. It’s so easy to slip into a consumer dreamland in this county while the rest of the world is in squalor supporting our lifestyle. Not to mention the debt we rack up to support our dreamlike state.

But working this out in practice is pretty complicated. Is it wrong to spend money on “entertainment”? What is entertainment? Is it the same for everyone? If someone loves nature, is it wrong to invest in a nice bike to ride around the trails in the Cuyahoga Valley (responsibly, of course). If someone loves independent films, is it wrong to spend the money and time trekking up to the Cleveland film festival? Is entertainment better if it’s social? Is it better if it’s personally enriching even if isolated? The answers are definitely situational, but last night I realized that we talk more than we need to.

Country clubs. Who needs them? Some see social value. Some see relaxation value. Some see networking value. To a person like me who doesn’t enjoy golf, it seems like a total waste.

Back to last night. Picture five people sitting in a really nice restaurant in downtown Cleveland after a great meal and getting ready for a concert at the House of Blues. Country Clubs become the topic. “What a waste of money! That money can be spent on so many other things to help people. How can anyone join those with a clear conscience?”

Indeed. I could not help but notice the irony of the situation. I asked everyone if they have cable or satellite TV? There was a long pause. Then one interjected, “Well, we only have the basic $12.95 plan!” Does that make it better? Or put another way, does having the $80 plan make it worse?

And then I realized…talk is cheap. It’s so easy to feign interest in helping other people by criticizing that “other guy” who we *THINK* isn’t doing enough. And far too often, it’s about money. But neither money nor most of what it can buy will solve any human problems in this world.

Real solutions take real work. I have a friend who worked faithfully at an insurance company as a manager. Because of his diligence and integrity he had everyone’s respect. He led his team well, and earned a nice compensation for the value he gave to his company. But, he lived very modestly with his wife. And he had a strong leadership role at a church that was known for it’s ministry to down-and-out people; not the white collar kind of church that builds moats around it’s already huge parking lot. (please note my heavy sarcasm, many of these large churches do very good things).

So this guy buys a *REALLY* nice guitar made out of Hawaiian koa wood. He’s not a master musician by any means, but he knows his way around the instrument and he enjoys it. Was he wrong to buy the guitar? Was it a guilty pleasure he should have avoided for the betterment of mankind? No.

It’s not what we do with our money that makes or breaks our integrity or good will–although that is part of it. There are much deeper issues at work in each of us that dictate what we do with anything we have charge of, whether it’s people, money, or anything!

It’s those deeper issues that make this whole mess so complicated. Just because someone drives a BMW or an SUV doesn’t mean they are rich jerks with no care in the world for the starving guy in downtown. (And just because the guy is starving downtown doesn’t mean that tossing him money or food will solve his problem, either!) Delving into those deeper issues is a time-consuming process that must happen on an individual level. It’s real work! If I am truly bugged about someone’s spending behavior, why am I griping about it to someone else? Shouldn’t I befriend them and learn more about them and then maybe offer a different point of view? Who knows? Maybe the best way to befriend this fictitious person is by joining his country club. Irony, anyone?

So today, I learned that talk is indeed cheap. It’s cheaper than actually doing something.