What purpose?

The author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad financial education series, Robert Kiyosaki, caught my attention in high school.  I acquired 5 or 10 of his books and spent several years pouring through them.  They were great for my education and easily explained the fundamentals of wealth creation.  However, one thing that always stuck out to me throughout the series was the ease in which Kiyosaki used the term "rich."  He didn't quietly whisper it when the word came up in his books, he used it boldly.  He was certainly not ashamed or even modest about his wealth and the skill with which he made it.

Growing up in the home of his "Poor Dad," he loves telling the story of how he met the father of one of his good friends.  His "Rich Dad" was responsible for his financial education and teaching him the lessons that led him to rise out of his middle class family up to the lofty heights of the rich.  As I read these books, I deeply wanted to have that sort of lifestyle.  I was determined to be rich.  He was a very good advertiser.

Keeping Kiyosaki in mind, the word that sticks out to me in Veblen's quote is "creditable."  He states that "Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth" (emphasis mine).  This seems to imply that, not only is effort directed towards creating wealth, but it is directed toward creating wealth in a smart way.  It is advertising a product more than money.  People will jeer at someone who makes and subsequently loses millions of dollars by way of the lottery or a family inheritance, or at a church like the Crystal Cathedral that credits God for it's fortunes and then goes bankrupt.  Therefore, it is not enough now to be rich, but it must be seen as deserved wealth.  That is something people will envy.  The image of the self-made millionaire is glamorous.  Worthy of credit.

Being a business major, I respect the skill of people who have been able to create a large amount of wealth for themselves--it takes a lot of thought and talent.  What Veblen's quote has helped me realize, however, is that even someone who gains wealth in an intelligent and responsible manner is not to be respected simply for that.  We can respect that man or woman's ability, but we have to remember that there must be the right purpose to "purposeful effort" and that the outcome of that effort is not solely manifested in prospering materially.  We very often are driven to be intelligently successful.  We make monuments to Dr. Chan Shun and the Howards, people who have obviously exerted "purposeful effort."  In all this, though, I wonder, what was the purpose of their effort?  What is the purpose of mine?  May it all be to glorify God.  That is a purpose that makes every ounce of effort a success.