Joel and Money

As we have discussed before, Joel has a hard time dealing with the concept of money, of value, of how dollars work together to form a total cost and what that means. I recall asking him if he could have anything in the world, what would it be? He thought a minute and said he needed some hand sanitizer! To him that was his immediate need and the value of the hand sanitizer was greater than the value of anything in the world. Of course a man with 10 million dollars needing a drink of water for sustenance would take it over another 10 million dollars (assuming of course he was unable to purchase the water with the money!).

To Joel, all things have the same inherent worth and they may or may not be worth something to him regardless of the market value in the world. Yesterday, he used his last check in his checkbook to pay for the City bus ride. Although several more checks were in a drawer, to his mind he had run out of money. Later in the day when he usually walks from the library to school in order to get a hamburger, coke, fries, and cookies at the little cafe, he was concerned that he had no money. Thinking through that, he realized he could call in his order, walk to get his food, and then not need to provide money for the meal.

Admittedly, I do not understand the thinking on this one. How can calling in your order preempt the requirement to pay for it? But to Joel's mind, it did. So he walks to the cafe, happily receives his food, sits down and eats every bite, and leaves without paying. I can imagine the scene with his big sweet smile, looking dressy in his tie, being polite and respectful, and just assuming it was all okay. The workers, not being sure what to do since they were responding positively and emotionally to Joel's demeanor and countenance, probably just shrugged and let it go.

Reminds me of the old Marvel comic strip "The Nicest Guy in the World." This was a little blonde boy named Sunny Sparkle who walked around smiling. People were so drawn in, they gave him things, free things, anything he wanted. He lived his life smiling and charming people and never had to pay for anything. Reality? No, but a little true for Joel? Maybe!

Joel's little Sunny Sparkle routine is not contrived but rather natural. He does not intend to manipulate anyone or anything (at least we don't think so) but it does tend to happen. Part of the reason we have to watch out for him. This protects others from his charm and allows the economy to function the way it is designed. All this free giving would likely end up with some sort of shared environment where we simply live our lives to make others feel good. This ironically would be in direct opposition to the diatribe against altruism that Randians extol! How awful that would be?

But back to the problem. Joel does not understand the abstraction of having money in the bank and needing to pay for the goods and services he receives. Luckily we manage his money for him as much as possible and try to teach him the value of money and of objects. Just another challenge in the Joel journey of life.