Affluence and influence

I was thinking today - I know, hard to believe - about people with lots of coin. We have a lot of them where we live. Rich folks come up from Texas to spend 2 weeks a year at their half million dollar second home. The rest of the year the places sit empty. To be honest it is pretty nauseating. There are many folks around here who have had to move away from the area because they can't find jobs or can't pay for a house to live in. Seems like there ought to be a way for them to find a free place to stay for 50 weeks a year, then vacate when the affluent people come in for their two weeks.

This whole topic got me thinking about the rich in our world. They have lots of affluence, but I wonder how much influence their affluence buys them. Because they aren't the same thing. I know that I will never have affluence, and honestly I would rather impact the world through my influence rather than my affluence. I want the character of my life and the integrity with which I try to live to be the impacter of the world, not the number of zeros behind any given number in my bank account.

Affluence or influence. Which one really matters when you realize you never will take a cent of it with you. Influence lasts forever, but affluence sure makes it more comfortable getting there. So are we willing to trade some discomfort now for a great forever? Or do we aim for power and prestige and lots of money to make the journey more enjoyable? Because real influence doesn't need affluence to make it happen.