Underthewood.com

I am the 1%.

I find the whole Occupy Wall Street thing really interesting.  I get it…I mean, I think I do at least.  It’s impossible not to see/hear about the level of selfishness and corruption in the upper level of our society and not get frustrated and feel ripped off.  I’d love to see it change as well.  But we can’t forget that the 99% is just as corrupt and selfish, it just manifests itself differently.  We don’t have the ability to do the things that these upper level execs and companies have done, so we don’t do them.  But if we were in the same situation, would it really be any different?  And the 1% have gotten a bad rap.  Some of the wealthiest people I know are hands-down the most generous and most servant-hearted people on this earth.  They have done more than I ever could to make this world a better place for all of us.  

That being said, I think that there’s an inherent issue of “entitlement” that so easily creeps into these discussions.  I recently had a visit from a fellow Youth for Christ worker from the country of Haiti.  I was sharply reminded of the gap that exists between myself as (self-proclaimed) middle-class American and the rest of the world. 

If you to www.globalrichlist.com, you can punch in your income and it will tell you where you fall in the world’s richest people.  Guess where I am?  

“Congratulations Ryan, you are the 59,029,289 richest person in the world.  This places you in the top 0.98% of the richest people in the world.”  

So I’m actually in the 1%.  Hmm…that changes the discussion, doesn’t it?

Just a thought.  

26 October 2011 ·