I saw this picture on Reddit, and, considering that my entry "Allah Dolla Bills, Y'all" garnered close to 18,000 views in a period of 24 hours (which is absolutely freaking huge for lil ol' me) after one of my readers posted it to Reddit, I thought I'd share the picture I found with you here:
It seems that stamping messages on currency has become quite the popular topic on the Internet, and to think that I was one of the driving forces behind it all. Yeah, I'm awesome.
So awesome.
Joking aside though, all this talk of money stamping raises a serious concern, because our money represents who we are. Money is an integral part of our lives. "Money can't buy happiness" and "money isn't everything," but in our society, one simply can't live without money. This is why most people go to work even though they don't like their jobs. Money represents strength, security, power, and even peace.
I agree that "money can't buy happiness," but I also know what it's like to have bills scatttered on the kitchen table that I didn't have the money to pay. In that situation, more money would have bought at least a little bit of happiness. Our well-being is intrinsically bound to our money. I used to work at a bank. I saw how emotional (and consequently irrational) customers would get when they thought something was wrong with their accounts. I spent years in banking getting yelled at, insulted and threatened, because people get emotional about their money.
You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
- Tyler Durden
Tyler might be right, but people still find their identity in their jobs and the amount of money they have and the clothes they wear. Good or bad, our money represents who we are, and until we reach that point where we evolve into a Gene Roddenberry-esque world in which money becomes obsolete, that's how it will remain.
In addition to this intrinsic connection we have with our money, our legal tender represents who we are to the rest of the world. The images, messages and designs of our bills depict (ideally) who we are as a nation and as a people. What does our money communicate?
"In God We Trust" is divisive. I made this point already in a previous article, so I'll simply say here that e pluribus unum would make a much finer national motto, because it stands for everything "In God We Trust" does not: unity, tolerance, compassion and solidarity. "In God We Trust" on the other hand - like so many other things based on religion - is elitist, separatistic and biased, not to mention unconstitutional. "In God We Trust" implies that, if you don't believe in "God" (however that's defined), then you are not patriotic or a "True American." Putting "In God We Trust" on our currency and adding "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance reeks of McCarthyist chauvinism.
United States citizens have the constitutional right to believe as they choose, and adhere to any religion or no religion at all, according to what they decide is best for themselves. No coersion from religious elitists should ever change that, even if such coersion is disguised as our national motto.
