Thinking about money while reflecting on non-monetary connections

Since there was a project on note called

#ThinkingAboutMoney

I thought I would try thinking about money again.

Money is interesting, isn't it? ✨

It doesn't rot!

lol

It doesn't depreciate!!

Is there anything else like that in this world?

I've read books about money by various people~
I even
read things like
the simplest investment books.

But, what even is money in the first place?

Doesn't it feel like
money is the only thing with a special system?

I wonder if
I started questioning that
after the pandemic, perhaps.

Even before that,
I married my husband in my mid-20s,
and my eldest son was born when I was 26.

There was no way
that my husband's salary alone
could cover the apartment loan and daily life;
it wasn't enough at all.

I was able to manage somehow
because of the money
my mother left behind.

Since I was living in Kawasaki City at the time,
among the moms around me,
I was on the younger side.

There were even people
who had their first child
after they were 40.

While there were many who clearly seemed to have plenty of room in their lives,

I would
carry my eldest daughter, born two years later, on my back,
seat my eldest son in front of my bicycle,
and wobble along.

I used to go shopping in Mizonokuchi like that.

When I reach my 40s,
I'm sure I'll be more financially secure,
I dreamed,
while fantasizing.

But wait!
However!

Selling the condo,
buying land in Hayama and building a house,
and then
my loans increased again.

As the children grow older,
there are lessons,
cram schools,
and transportation costs!

Wait a minute, what's going on?!

Far from becoming easier,
my expenses just keep increasing.

And for some reason, as my expenses increase,
my time is decreasing too⏰

The 40s I dreamed of
in my 20s
are different!

Clearly different!!!

Something is wrong, something is definitely wrong!!

Since I started working for myself,
doing everything from
sales to accounting on my own,

I've gradually realized

that money
is a strange system.
I'vecome to realize this.

And also
that our current capitalist economy has reached its limits.

The money that comes into my hands
is someone else's expenditure.

Money created from someone else's debt
is a zero-sum game,

where if it increases here,
it decreases there.

That is how the system is structured.

Everyone prospering

The world of money is one where that never happens.

Isn't that unhappy?

Those who are desperate to increase their money
and build their assets
are people I watch

(Oh, I was like that once too)

and think about.

Instead of spending time on thatI wish they would just
laugh, eat, and play
with their children.

But
if you don't have money, you can't let your children do
what they want to do, right!!

I can hear that
counterargument
from somewhere 😂

Yes, that is certainly true.

If you have a lot of money,
you might be able to send your children abroad to study
or take them on overseas trips every month.

Maybe you can.

But
the present moment only happens
once.

I think it is more important to spend time with your children right now.
In the first place, your children

might not even want to study abroad 🤣

lol

The idea that I want to let my children experience everything

is something I feel
is just the parent's ego.

If they have something they want to do, shouldn't they think of ways
to do it on their own?

Just because you are a parent, does that mean you have to
give your children everything?

I don't think so, and
I can't give you everything, you know.

But, getting back to the point,

I
when my father was dying
really thought about it.

He had bipolar disorder
→ Back in the day, this diagnosis didn't exist.

The swings between mania and depression were incredibly extreme,

and when he was manic, he would spend money like crazy,
using up his early retirement money,
and remarrying penniless...

It was truly a good thing his wife didn't run away from him, though.

Living modestly on his corporate pension and employees' pension,

before his illness was diagnosed,
he lived in fear of his money gradually running out,

and he would sometimes complain,If I keep living forever, my money will just keep decreasing.

He would say things like that.

After he was admitted to the palliative care ward
and given a terminal prognosis,
while he was still conscious,

he said, "I'm sorry I couldn't leave anything for you children."

Although he said that,
and I thought, "You could have left at least a little bit,"
🤣

I spent his final moments
with him,

and received something irreplaceable

that could never be exchanged for money.

Money has no intrinsic value.

What has value is
our labor,

nature, energy, and
the skills to create.

We ourselves have value, yet

for some reason,
once that value is converted into money,
it instantly
becomes a number,

a world of
having more or less,
wanting more,and worrying about what happens if it runs out.

That is what it becomes.

It's strange.

Truly, it's strange.

Even in Japan, there are people doing village-like things
who have local currencies
they are trying to circulate within the village or
the region, and in the Shonan area,

around Sagami Bay as well,

there is a local currency

called 'Kin' (Bacteria/Fungi).

For a while, it circulated frequently, but
now I don't
see it much anymore.

The reason local currencies don't work well is
because of things like electricity bills, transportation costs, and taxes,

things that
must be paid in yen.

It is because
foreign currency (yen) other than the local currency becomes necessary.

Even if energy,
food, and daily necessities
could be produced within the village,
and there were people with the skills to make them,
and it started to circulate,

to leave the village
or to procure something not available in the village,
foreign currency would still be necessary.

I strongly feel that
this monetary economic system
is quite troublesome
and has become a system
that cannot be easily changed.

Personally,
I want to live in a world built on the exchange of skills and technology
and
that is what I think.

I am living my life
to make that happen as much as possible.

And there is no doubt that this is a world that can only exist
with human connections and gratitude toward nature
.

There may be pros and cons, but
I
found the words of Mr. Okuno from this Gobo Party
(the naming sense is interesting 😂😂😂)
to be resonant.

The dollar will collapse.

Money will become scraps of paper.

If such a time comes,
how will you protect the people you love?

I don't think this is the kind of
content the note project intended, though 😂😂😂

lol

I'll just post it as an article.

I'll be in Kobe starting tomorrow~!!

Everyone, have a wonderful weekend 🌈