FANTASY $$$

   Our lives and culture are saturated with fantasy.   

• In the movies we sit in a dark room with strangers and watch other people pretend to be someone they are not or do things that are physically impossible.  
• With the TV we do the same in the comfort of our homes.  
• In books we read fiction stories someone has made up about people, places and things that do not really exist. 
•  In video games we become heroes or villains with super powers and unlimited opportunities to fail until we succeed.  
• No politician does what they say they will when they run for office and we still vote for them anyway.  
• In sporting activities we pay an absurd amount for a ticket to watch grown men, who are paid an obscene amount, and all they do is play children's games. 
• In business we play monopoly and curse the government for interfering.  We chase pieces of paper called "stock certificates" that are valuable only because someone is willing to pay us more imaginary money that we paid for the certificates originally. When they won't pay more our net worth goes down and we suffer anxiety and depression.
• In fashion and entertainment we make believe everyone can look like the super models or the movie stars when in truth is only a small percent of the population even have a chance to be like them.

   Money is used to measure success.  I believe it was Billy Joel who said, "All you need is looks and a whole lot of money." How to increase your net worth becomes the goal in life and it is all make believe.

   Whoa, wait a minute.  Besides being a bit cynical did I just say money is a fantasy.  Well, after all it is only paper and ink, shiny metal disks or numbers moved from one pile to another by writing checks or swiping a plastic card through a reader and signing our name to a piece of paper or electronic pad.   

   Money is valuable only because we all agree that it is and will exchange goods and services for it. Much easier to store work in paper, metal or binary code than paint the farmer's fence or shovel out the barn each time we need eggs and milk.   
   While money makes things convenient for us, and we need it to provide food, clothing and shelter we should not indulge in the fantasy that possession of wealth is the sole goal of existence.  There are many other worthwhile endeavors that bring about the true ultimate goal of life--self fulfilled happiness that does not come at the expense of the welfare of someone else.
   Fantasy can be fun but in the end the core values of: Faith, Charity, Agency, Work, Perseverance, and Family rise to the top of any list of what makes for a happy existence.