“Money does not change people, it only reveals their true character.”
I remember coming across the above statement a very long time ago, yet it remains fresh in my memory. Maybe because it echoes a truth, and a reality that I've seen. So it has remained stuck in my memory. And guess what, immediately I saw the prompt, that was the first thing that came to my mind. When something remains this memorable over time, even after a very long time, I think it signifies something more. In this case, a sad but true reality.
Money is one of the most sought-after things. Arguably, we can say it is the most. It shouldn't be shocking then for something sought out by virtually everyone on the face of the earth to have a great impact on a person's character. I mean, a few things or reasons can expose the true character of a person. Money, stands possibly at the top of that list. There's power and influence and a lot of luxury with money, which consciously and subconsciously, reveals the true character of a person, in various ways.
I see money in relation to a person's character as an amplifier. Money doesn't come into someone's life and turn them into something else, though there's that effect it could have. In the bigger picture, it amplifies character or reveals a hidden one. A person who is pompous, proud, arrogant and reckless will be twice, three times or any number multiplied by what he or she is without that money. That's the amplifier work of money. We might say having money made such a person like that. No, it only amplified what was already there.
A poor person who at the taste of money turned into something else, partially or totally unrecognisable, money didn't change them. Money did the job of exposing and revealing the true hidden character. People can become something to get money, but people do not become something because they have money. This means, people can go to any length, and do things they wouldn't normally do, or do things they aren't proud of for money. But as regards that money changing a person because they have it, it only reveals or amplifies what they really are.
Change is more of an action and process that starts within us, consciously in most senses, or subconsciously. We might be oblivious to it, but change starts before it's seen or manifested. What's seen is the end product of a process, matured and due for delivery. Money, beyond what it means to us, is a tool that easily reveals what the inside of a person is like. Money has that power and influence, but maybe not to that great a measure that it totally changes a person. There's an environmental influence and from one's circle too.
It's a hard reality, but I've come to realise, this is it. Money as an influential and sought-after thing gives it that invisible power to affect people's lives; but not make a new them. The process of making money can cause a person to change, whether good or bad, but not the effects of having it. For me, it calls for a reflection, to look inwardly and know what my true character is, lest money comes and make something “new” of me that isn't actually new. Rather, a reflection of the true me. That's what it does.