Why I Am an Advocacy Writer

I remember as a teenager, I would have arguments with a family member over wealth. I always argued I would not want to be wealthy. This person would argue with me that I SHOULD want to have more money. I would then go home and argue with my mother because she felt I should not argue with this family member. Anytime I did something for the joy of doing it - whether it was singing a song or writing an article, the first question posed to me was always, "How much did you make from it?" (I know now this attempt to take away joy for a job well-done, an accomplishment, or a talent is a sign of narcissistic abuse. I did not know that then, in my teenage years and early twenties). Those arguments only put distance between my mother and me that never healed and distance, even to this day, between this family member and me. A couple years ago, I unfriended another family member on Facebook because of the same type of assumptions.

To this day, I can honestly say I would not want to be wealthy. Money is not important to me. I work jobs to make a living. Jobs are not my life. I am happy living in a two-bedroom house. If that is all I ever have, I am happy with that. I go to college to pursue an education, not to make more money. I LOVE studying. I LOVE learning. I LOVE researching. I always say, some people choose to go into debt for a house, car, or trip. I choose to go into debt for an education. I would choose that debt again over the others.

I am so, so weary of people's ideas that EVERYONE has to have a goal of making more money. Our American education system pushes kids into believing the purpose of education is to make money in the future. As I've said many times, we take away childhood so they can make a lot of money in their adult lives.

People may not agree with me. That is fine. However, no one should impose their assumptions upon me. I do not feel the way they do. They can have a difference of opinion. They should not believe I will come around to their way of thinking, because I won't. This is a value I have believed in for many, many years - for as long as I can remember. That belief only gets stronger the more I see the direction society is moving. This is why I am an advocacy writer.

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (I Timothy 6:10, NIV).