‘Finally there’s the “feeling rich” and maybe that’s
where you and I count?’
FIFTY years ago in Baguio City, Enrique Zobel spoke before a gathering of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and made a startling proposal. If a communist revolution were to succeed, he told the gathering of activist campus journalists, and if the rich of the Philippines had to be eliminated, then could the process follow a certain order?
Zobel then proceeded to divide the rich of the Philippines into three classes. The first he called the “idle rich,” or those who do nothing but live off their wealth, contributing very little to national development. They should go first, Zobel proposed.
Then there was the “profligate rich,” or those who flaunt their wealth via ostentatious living. Maybe he meant those who bought and drove fancy sports cars in Manila’s traffic, or spent the nights away partying and looking for their pictures on weekends in the social pages of Manila’s newspapers. They should go next.
Finally, Zobel labeled those like him the “working rich.” This group, however they earned monies, still burned the midnight oil, making more money, yes, but in the process contributing to national development. When business hums, people are employed, taxes are paid and money flows through the system.
The working rich like him, Zobel proposed, should be the last to go up to the gallows.
I spent many days discussing this speech with him in 90s while I was his executive assistant some 20 years after he delivered it. I’ve always found the speech amusing and instructive and at the same time, and for years I’ve always wondered whether it was in fact
the best way to prioritize the “enemies of the people” to be “neutralized” after a people’s revolution .
But the other day, my thoughts returned to the speech and I found myself thinking whether there should be a new way to slice and dice the rich of the Philippines in the 21st Century.
This is what I came up with.
The first is the “inherited” rich. These are those who by the luck of the draw were born into wealth – however that wealth was amassed. Naturally this has to consist of at least the second generation of rich, because the first was the generation that created the wealth.
And because the second generation and those after it didn’t have to suffer the difficulties of want the way their elders did, a subset of this is the idle rich that my former boss referred to.
The second consists of the “worked for it” rich. This is usually the first generation of the “inherited rich” and they understand and feel for the less fortunate in society of which they were once. But note: just because they worked their asses off to become rich does not per se make them respectable. They could have earned their wealth the dirty way (corruption in government, for example, or through such enterprises as drug dealing and all) which means a subset of this category is what I call the “filthy” rich in the pejorative sense of the word.
Then there’s the “lucky rich.” These are the few who by some stroke of providence woke up one morning and their lives are exchanged. Maybe they won the lotto. Maybe a rich relative died and all of a sudden they found themselves in possession of properties they never knew existed. Or heck they could have married into a family of the first two classes. This class isn’t a big one but it exists.
Finally there’s the “feeling rich” and maybe that’s where you and I count? These are the folks who know how to enjoy life with what they have, sometimes a little too much, creating credit card problems, but in the main they pull through. Unlike the first three groups, life for this last group is always exciting and always a challenge but in many ways it is also always a source of fulfillment to be able to wake up the next day still alive and still hopeful. And yes maybe the feeling rich is actually the most hopeful of all, and that’s the source of their “riches.” No matter what life throws at them they pick themselves up and soldier on.
I don’t mind being part of this last group, especially if it is part of a “Divine Plan” as Tevye, the lead character in Fiddler on the Roof complains. Being part of the “feeling rich,” I also know that my friends are my friends not because they want to borrow from me but because they know that the only thing I could lend them is a cup of sugar! Or maybe two.
But yes sometimes it’s nice to imagine what it would be like to be part of the first three, which I do often and only stop when my boss calls.
