a smile. “Fear pushes you out the door, and desire calls to you. That’s the trap.”
“So what’s the answer?” Mike asked.
“What intensifies fear and desire is ignorance. That is why rich people with lots of money often have more fear the richer they get. Money is the carrot, the illusion. If the donkey could see the whole picture, it might rethink its choice to chase the carrot.”
Rich dad went on to explain that a human’s life is a struggle between ignorance and illumination.
He explained that once a person stops searching for information and self-knowledge, ignorance sets in. That struggle is a moment-to-moment decision—to learn to open or close one’s mind.
“Look, school is very important. You go to school to learn a skill or profession to become a contributing member of society. Every culture needs teachers, doctors, mechanics, artists, cooks, businesspeople, police officers, firefighters, and soldiers. Schools train them so society can thrive and flourish,” said rich dad. “Unfortunately, for many people school is the end, not the beginning.”
There was a long silence. Rich dad was smiling. I didn’t comprehend everything he said that day. But as with most great teachers, his words continued to teach for years.
“I’ve been a little cruel today,” said rich dad. “But I want you to always remember this talk. I want you to always think of Mrs. Martin. And I want you always to remember that donkey. Never forget that fear and desire can lead you into life’s biggest trap if you’re not aware of them controlling your thinking. To spend your life living in fear, never exploring your dreams, is cruel. To work hard for money, thinking that it will buy you things that will make you happy is also cruel. To wake up in the middle of the night terrified about paying bills is a horrible way to live. To live a life dictated by the size of a paycheck is not really living a life. Thinking that a job makes you secure is lying to yourself. That’s cruel, and that’s the trap I want you to avoid. I’ve seen how money runs people’s lives. Don’t let that happen to you. Please don’t let money run your life.”
A softball rolled under our table. Rich dad picked it up and threw it back.
“So what does ignorance have to do with greed and fear?” I asked.
“Because it is ignorance about money that causes so much greed and fear,” said rich dad. “Let me give you some examples. A doctor, wanting more money to better provide for his family, raises his fees. By raising his fees, it makes health care more expensive for everyone.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY...
INCOME INEQUALITY
In his 2016 U.S. Presidential bid, Senator Bernie Sanders stated: “Wealth and income inequality is the biggest moral crisis facing Americans today.”
It hurts the poor people the most, so they have worse health than those with money. Because the doctors raise their fees, the attorneys raise their fees. Because the attorneys’ fees have gone up, schoolteachers want a raise, which raises our taxes, and on and on and on. Soon there will be such a horrifying gap between the rich and the poor that chaos will break out and another great civilization will collapse. History proves that great civilizations collapse when the gap between the haves and have-nots is too great. Sadly, America is on that same course because we haven’t learned from history. We only memorize historical dates and names, not the lesson.”
“Aren’t prices supposed to go up?” I asked.
“In an educated society with a well-run government, prices should actually come down. Of course, that is often only true in theory. Prices go up because of greed and fear caused by ignorance. If schools taught people about money, there would be more money and lower prices. But schools focus only on teaching people to work for money, not how to harness money’s power.”
“But don’t we have business schools?” Mike asked. “And haven’t you encouraged me to go for my MBA?”
“Yes,” said rich dad. “But all too often business schools train employees to become sophisticated bean-counters. Heaven forbid a bean-counter takes over a business. All they do is look at the numbers, fire people, and kill the business. I know this because I hire bean-counters. All they think about is cutting costs and raising prices, which cause more problems. Bean-counting is important. I wish more people knew it, but it, too, is not the whole picture,” added rich dad angrily.
“So is there an answer?” asked Mike.
“Yes,” said rich dad. “Learn to use your emotions to think, not think with your emotions. When you boys mastered your emotions by agreeing to work for free, I knew there was hope. When you again resisted your emotions when I tempted you with more money, you were again learning to think in spite of being emotionally charged. That’s the first step.”
“Why is that step so important?” I asked.
“Well, that’s up to you to find out. If you want to learn, I’ll take you boys into the briar patch, a place almost everyone else avoids. If you go with me, you’ll let go of the idea of working for money and instead learn to have money work for you.”
“And what will we get if we go with you. What if we agree to learn from you? What will we get?” I asked.
“The same thing Brer Rabbit got,” said rich dad, referring to the classic children’s story.
“Is there a briar patch?” I asked.
“Yes,” said rich dad. “The briar patch is our fear and greed. Confronting fear, weaknesses, and neediness by choosing our own thoughts is the way out.”
“Choosing our thoughts?” Mike asked, puzzled.
“Yes. Choosing what we think rather than reacting to our emotions. Instead of just getting up and going to work because not having the money to pay your bills is scaring you, ask yourself, ‘Is working harder at this the best solution to this problem?’ Most people are too afraid to rationally think things through and instead run out the door to a job they hate. The Tar Baby is in control. That’s what I mean by choosing your thoughts.”
“And how do we do that?” Mike asked.
“That’s what I will teach you. I’ll teach you to have a choice of thoughts rather than a knee-jerk reaction, like gulping down your morning coffee and running out the door.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY...
EMOTIONS… AND INTELLIGENCE
I constantly work to control my thoughts and my emotions.
I’ve seen this play out over and over in my life: When emotion goes up, intelligence goes down.
“Remember what I said before: A job is only a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Most people have only one problem in mind, and it’s short-term. It’s the bills at the end of the month, the Tar Baby. Money controls their lives, or should I say the fear and ignorance about money controls it. So they do as their parents did. They get up every day and go work for money, not taking the time to ask the question, ‘Is there another way?’ Their emotions now control their thinking, not their heads.”
“Can you tell the difference between emotions thinking and the head thinking?” Mike asked.
“Oh, yes. I hear it all the time,” said rich dad. “I hear things like, ‘Well, everyone has to work.’ Or ‘The rich are crooks.’ Or ‘I’ll get another job. I deserve this raise. You can’t push me around.’ Or ‘I like this job because it’s secure.’ No one asks, ‘Is there something I’m missing here?’ which would break through the emotional thought and give you time to think clearly.”
As we headed back to the store, rich dad explained that the rich really did “make money.” They did not work for it. He went on to explain that when Mike and I were casting five-cent pieces out of lead, thinking we were making money, we were very close to thinking the way the rich think. The problem was that creating money is legal