Fixing the Window Switch and the Love of Money: Hunker Junker Chronicles

 Recently we (people) got into one of those classic conversations about old cars.

Illustrative Only

My driver's side window switch had been acting up for months. Every now and then the window wouldn't roll up, but I'd pop the switch out, wiggle it around, snap it back in, and—presto—it worked again. I kept telling myself, "I should order a new switch." Like many projects on an old car, that sentence stayed on my to-do list for a while.

Then I went to practice dance with the dance team I'm in. When I went in, the window decided it was on strike. After a few failed negotiations, I finally ordered the replacement switch.

Naturally, by the time I walked back outside...the old switch was working perfectly again.

Old cars have a great sense of humor.

A few days later the new switch arrived. I swapped over one little silver clip from the old one, snapped everything together, and now it works perfectly. Another tiny victory for old-car ownership.

Some friends asked, "Why are you driving that old thing? Just buy a new car."

I laughed.

That's not really the point.

Sure, I could buy another car, but this one runs ok, it's becoming more reliable, and it's got personality. It reminds me of my gramps. Everywhere I go people wave, smile, or stop to talk about it. Nobody walks across a parking lot to admire another gray crossover that looks like every other gray crossover.

Mine has stories.

I'm slowly fixing it up mechanically before worrying too much about the bodywork. I'd rather know it's dependable than simply shiny.

The conversation eventually drifted from cars to money. I've known people who judged success by appearances—nice clothes, expensive cars, flashy lifestyles. Sometimes they didn't actually have much money; they just looked like they did. Image became more important than substance.

I don't want to live that way.

Money matters. We all need it. But I don't want my happiness—or my self-worth—to depend on what other people think of me.

One friend laughed and said, "You should run for office."

My logic seemed to make a little more sense the more I explained it.

I told him I appreciated the compliment, but I don't think that's where life is taking me. I care about good ideas, strong communities, and treating people fairly, but I don't want to say whatever people want to hear just to gain influence or power. If it becomes a necessity some day that may change. 

As we talked, I realized the old car was really just a metaphor.

The study below discusses how an excessive love of money can lead people to objectify others—to see people as tools instead of human beings. That's a dangerous way to live because people become stepping stones instead of neighbors, coworkers, friends, or family. Study after study show that once you achieve a comfortable level of money the joy is in relationships. 

At the end of the day, none of us gets to take our money, titles, or shiny new cars with us. We're all traveling the same road, and eventually we're all headed to the same destination.

So drive the old car if it makes you smile.

Buy the new one if that's what you truly enjoy.

Wear the fancy watch if you like watches. Mine is a cheap one under $15 (For dive watches either go super expensive or go super cheap where they glue them together. A trick I learned from surfers.)

Just don't measure people by what they own or what they can do for you. I'm surfing and diving and most people are not so its just a choice.

There may not be one perfect way to live life, but there is a right way to treat people—with dignity, respect, and kindness.

Besides...my old car finally rolls the window up every single time. That's worth celebrating. I feel a little good about fixing that problem. Different worlds and lives for different people. As long as you can fit in multiple worlds then you understand the social side of society.

The Love of Money Results in Objectification

• The study examined whether a strong desire for money influences how people perceive and treat others, finding that a greater love of money is associated with increased objectification.
• Across four studies, individuals who highly valued money were more likely to view relationships in instrumental terms, focusing on how useful others could be rather than their personal qualities.
• Temporarily activating feelings of wealth or increasing motivation for money made participants more likely to favor people for their usefulness and to attribute fewer mental and emotional capacities to others.
• The researchers found that objectification partially explained why money-related thinking could contribute to unethical or immoral behavior by reducing empathy toward other people and even animals.
• The findings suggest that while money is an essential economic tool, an excessive focus on money can weaken interpersonal relationships by encouraging people to treat others as means to an end rather than as individuals with thoughts, feelings, and intrinsic value.

Wang, X., & Krumhuber, E. G. (2017). The love of money results in objectification. British Journal of Social Psychology, 56(2), 354–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12158