Brains and Money

"I always liked him," I said.  "He always had good taste.  Every business he started was beautiful.  Her renovated the Riverside Hotel.  That place was terrific.  And his clothes were always cool.  He dressed the way I wanted to."

"Yea, John was a nice guy.  His problem was that he never had really big money.  He had money, but he was never, you know, he wasn't in the big leagues."

That's how talk around my little town goes.  There are people with money and then the players with really big money.  And there is me who, as somebody famously said, is cursed with a small but adequate income.  I was talking to my fallen trust fund friend and another friend who has not spent his. Two guys from two families with enough money.  Of course, most of the talk was of gambling and women.

I never thought I'd actually need money, really.  I always made my way without having any.  Waitresses and bartenders always made sure I had a drink in good bars.  Girls liked me without wanting anything from me since I hadn't anything at all.  I lived a Bohemian life of books and travel and domestic adventure.  I had fun friends and the party never seemed to end.  We ate at cheap but good restaurants and the talk was always interesting.

But things change, first slowly, then quickly.  And then you begin to understand money.

The best money, of course, is the money you don't have to work for.  You see that anywhere you look. You see it in my own hillbilly relative when somebody dies.  Kids fall out over the smallest of inheritances.  They'll quit speaking to one another over some antiques or dishes.  If there is money involved, it could get bloody.  And even hillbillies have money now.  What amazes me is how suddenly people change when they think they are getting it.  Right away, they see the reasoning of the cosmos.  God is in His heaven, and all is right with the world.

Of course in the end the money is never as much as expected and never ever enough, and sooner than later they are all back to their original state wondering what happened, waiting for the next victim to die.

I would like enough money not to worry.  How much is that?  Beats me.  I'm pretty sure there is never enough.

When I hear Donald Sterling talk, he sounds like the powerful men around here with enough money.  They get to say stupid shit all the time and everyone around them either agrees or stays quiet, and since they have so much money, they must be smart.  They are all smart or they wouldn't have money.  It is a circular logic.  I like to point out that Shaquille O'Neal has lots of money, too, but it never makes an impression.  He played basketball.  They are businessmen.  They buy and sell things.  It is dynamic, a different type of competition.  Nope, these guys are sharp.  Like Donald Trump.

That is the only true fun I get out of the Donald Sterling Disease.  He is now outside the bubble.  His stupid shit sounds idiotic outside the echo chamber.  Jews took care of Jews, he says.  Black people take care of themselves.  That is Sterling's wisdom.  It sounds just like some southern cracker Duck Dynasty talk.  Now, I'm sure, Sterling's confused.  Everybody used to agree with him when he'd say those things.  Now they don't.  What happened?  The fucking schvartzes got him.

Maybe that is why I always liked John, the man with taste.  He never had big money.  He had money, but not enough for everybody to kiss his ass.  He was a nice guy, I think.  At least nobody ever secretly taped him at home to prove otherwise.