Money didn’t mean much to me when I was a kid, that is to say, it wouldn’t have made my situation any better. We yo-yoed between well-off and dirt poor as often as my father lost one job and found another and in truth, the poorer times were the less fraught ones, for with no money to buy alcohol my parent's relationship was less volatile.
'Cast your bread upon the waters and it will be returned to you ten-thousand fold' my father, a man much given to aphorism and quotation, would often advise us, and that has certainly been my experience.
I’ve always been self-employed, have never taken a penny from the state, and have somehow managed to maintain a decent lifestyle in spite of extreme stupidity with money which should have seen me in the gutter. Let’s just say I’m a sucker for a hard luck story.
In business, money has never been what drives me. I strive for perfection and the money seems to follow. That money I've always spent on a better product, a more efficient service, and an as near as perfect working environment for my staff.
I’m not an acquisitive person, have very few possessions and fewer habits that cost me anything. I don’t mean I’m a stingy bugger, just that my wants are few, and other than a roomier house, there's not much money could buy that would add to my contentment.
When I ran a legal services business many moons ago, I used to give employment to ex-drug addicts who had gone through the rehab programme. The problem was, once released from rehab they returned to the same drug-ridden areas they came from, so relapse rates were high.
What I would do with a large sum of money is to buy a big ex-convent, rectory, or the like, developing one part as a luxury retreat/spa/wellness centre to finance the other portion which would house recovering addicts. I’d create an organic farm to grow food for the guests which would give the addicts something to occupy them and help them to develop new skills at the same time. I have experience in hospitality, marketing, and wellness, and I already grow much of my own food.
Well, it’d get me my bigger house now, wouldn’t it!
I must confess that solving Dublin’s homeless/heroin addiction problem is a longstanding plan of mine and my brother's, and we still haven't given up on financing it ourselves... when our crypto moons:).
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Posted in response to the Ink Well creative non-fiction challenge #15. The prompt asks what you would do with a lottery win.
The images show some of the veggies I managed to grow last year.