During my childhood, long, long ago, my father introduced to all his children the following famous quote:
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost”
As a part of Moral Education, he told us this quotation umpteen times and stressed the importance of good character. This quotation, though we did not know a thing about the word ‘character’, it became a sacred word and meant many things!
Father, if remains as father to his children throughout life, then he is not a good father. My father realized this. Usually, all fathers will remain as fathers forever. There will not be any change in them. Similarly, a son cannot remain as a son forever. It serves no purpose. My father, from my 21st year on ward ceased to be my father. He became a friend to all his children.
We conversed the way friends converse. No good or bad language. Between us friends’ language became a communication tool. The Language stopped being good or bad! We talked of studies, girlfriends, cinemas, properties, marriages, sex… there is no end to the list of subjects that were discussed. You can touch on anything and it was a subject or topic of our involved discussion.
My brother Krishna, while sipping tea on a fine winter evening said “Reddy Saab, you gave us a lot of shit about ‘everything being lost, if character is lost’, and we blindly believed you. With the help of my father and I, my brother re-wrote that famous quote in the following manner:
When Character is lost, nothing is lost
When health is lost, something is lost;
When wealth is lost, all is lost.
It must be clearly stated that I never called my father as ‘father’ since the day we became friends. He was always either ‘Reddy Saab’ or simply ‘Muthiam’ (father’s name). My brother indeed has concluded correctly – in today’s world, no man is respected because of his character, but of wealth. I need to quote no examples in support, as it is obvious.
From a different perspective, the Hindu God Balaji seems to be a perfect god incarnation in this wealth-centered modern world. This is the only god and this is the only religion in the entire world which talks of loans, repayments and the interest factors. The other religious have vehemently denounced the concept of interest. Jesus got angry with money lenders. Prophet Mohammad called interest ‘Haram’. Thus, the Hindu God Lord Venkateshwar / Balaji seems be the personification and essence of modern-day finance.
I agree fully with my deceased brother Krishna who aptly summarized the importance of wealth by saying ‘When wealth is lost, all is lost’. I never knew nor did I ask Father as to the author of this quote. On a thorough search I found that it was quotation of a famous American evangelist William Franklin Graham (1918-2018), famously known as Billy Graham. He had coined this quote roughly 50 years ago.
Billy Graham is being proved wrong today and every day in every sense of his quotation. Many prioritize wealth over character. Consumerism and materialism shifted money value over character. Social media & celebrity culture endorse the money power. Money gives instant gratification. Brother Krishna’s redrafted version of this quote (30 years ago) proves that people believe money is money. Good or bad money is fool’s classification.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
