You Might Be Rich If ...

Despite what you think, you might be rich by global standards if ...

... you complain about wifi.

... food spoils in your fridge.

... you have a refrigerator.

... you are worried that you don't have enough money saved for retirement.

... you actually expect to stop working before you die.

... you have a savings account worth more than $100.

... you have health insurance (of any kind).

... you make more than minimum wage.

... you make minimum wage.  

... you have ever felt like your closet is getting too full.

... you have more than one of any of these: coat, pair of shoes, phone, computer, car, earbuds, twenty dollar bill, book, water faucet.

... you have enough food in your house to sustain you for more than a week without going shopping.

... you have ever said that your kids have too many toys.

... you or your wife owns a diamond.

... you are only concerned about WHAT your family will eat tonight, not IF your family will eat tonight.

... you are able to read this blog worrying about how you will pay for the internet access.

Instead of trying to prove all of these simple statements individually, I offer you a few simple yet shocking facts (from here and here).

1. 80% of the world lives on less than $10 per day.
2. Almost 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50 per day.
3. Half of the 2 billion children in our world live in extreme poverty.
4. One in eight people are chronically undernourished.
5. One in six people don't have access to clean water.

The Summons - Book Review

Carrying three million dollars in your trunk can be stressful.
Summoned to his father's deathbed, Ray Atlee discovers a dark little secret for his father - a retired judge.  Stuffed away in cardboard stationary boxes are piles and piles of hundred dollar bills.
How did it get there?  Where did it come from?  Who does it belong to?  Who are these people who want it back?
Complicating everything is that Ray's brother and co-inheritor is a life-long drug addict.  Giving him a small fortune would be like handing him a grenade with no pin.
Grisham manages to string us along in suspense as the action picks up.  Meanwhile he is teaching us lessons about greed, the addictive power of money, the essential impotence of money to make us happy, and yet the power of money when used as a tool for healing.  In the midst of immense family brokenness, Grisham even manages to work in some surprising hope and hints of reconciliation.
Also, Grisham takes us back to Clanton, Mississippi, where several of his novels are based, and reintroduces us to one of his more colorful supporting characters, Harry Rex Vonner, a good friend, who is also an alcoholic womanizer.  Ah, Grisham, thanks for the complexity.
And thanks Emma for another good Father's Day gift.

Rainmaker - Review

Our church garage sale had two John Grisham books I hadn't read, so I tipped Sarah off.  Emma gave them to me for Fathers Day.  Score.

Rainmaker picks up on several common Grisham themes - injustice, underdogs, corporate wrongdoing, and ultimately dissatisfaction with money.  

The premise is simple.  Donny Ray had medical insurance, but when he needed a bone marrow transplant, his insurers unfairly denied his claim.  However, his parents were so poor and uneducated that they simply fought the insurance company with letters and phone calls, until it was too late.  When Donny Ray lay on his deathbed, they stumbled into contact with a young law student who took their case.  Against all odds, and with some very fortunate help from others, Rudy Baylor took down one of America's largest insurance companies and exposed their widespread fraud.

What I love about Grisham is that he tells a story with a point, or in this case multiple points.  1) Beware of corporate greed and abuse.  Not every big business is a good business.  2) Beware of greed - from within.  Riches may not be worth the sacrifices required to get them (or to keep them).  

Thanks for another good one, Mr. Grisham.

Book Review - King of Torts - John Grisham

Oh, the temptations of materialism.
A young lawyer stumbles into a few incredibly lucrative class action lawsuits.  Initially, he is both awed and disgusted by the flagrant waste, luxury, arrogance, and greed of the other class-action lawyers.  But rather quickly he is sucked into their way of life - including a private jet and a vacation home in the Caribbean.  However, a few bad decisions and a little bad luck lead to the total unraveling of his little empire.
On the surface, King of Torts is just a quick read about the follies of the superrich and the easy-come-easy-go nature of wealth.  Dig deeper, though, and open your own heart a little, and Grisham's scalpel begins to probe our own hearts as well.
How often do our own desires increase in proportion to our increasing income?  For those of us who have experienced financial growth or increasing income, we know the experience of buying luxuries we thought were frivolous when we had less money.  We may have even looked down on those who "wasted" their money on such things.
Materialism doesn't always have price tags in the millions.  It doesn't even have to be double digits.  The little stuff can be just as materialistic as the big stuff, and we can just as easily get sucked in to consuming more and more, with more and more recklessness.
The other little moral of this story is patience and prudence.  Slow and steady discipline usually wins the race over the big all-or-nothing gambles.  Just spend a little less and save a little more, and you'll be amazed at the financial security that slowly develops in your life.
I love it when entertaining fiction also speaks truth into my life.  Well done again, Mr. Grisham.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - #38 Greatest American Movie of All Time

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the best Humphrey Bogart film I've seen.  His character is a down-and-out American in a Mexican city.  After getting some cash, he takes up gold prospecting - together with a friend and an experienced prospector.
The story itself has lots of twists and turns.  It leaves you guessing right up to the very end. 
However, the essence of the story is his transformation after they find gold.  He moves from a trusting, stand-up guy to ... well I won't ruin the story.  Gold changes people - a maxim often repeated by the old prospector (who seems to be the type-model for the old man prospector in Toy Story).  They old guy himself claims to have made and lost many a fortune hunting for gold.  Once you strike it rich, you just can't stop, he says.
In the end, this movie is a story about the foolishness of chasing wealth.  A side plot basically reveals the point of the movie.  Another gold prospector tries to force his way into their prospecting team.  He is killed during an attack by bandits, and they discover that this guy has a wife and kids, who are longing for him to come home and to give up his pursuit of gold.  Family, home, and loving relationships are the real treasure - not gold.
The Josh rating: JJJJ.