Crazy rich... or rich crazy?

"A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. "
~W. C. Fields

Most people I know are your average everyday regular working class individuals... I don't know anyone who is rich. Now, I'm not talking about people who have nice stuff and who make good money at their jobs, I'm talkin about people who are crazy rich... so rich that they wont ever know what it will be like to not be able to afford something. That kind of rich... so I have no baseline, or experience from which to draw any conclusions on rich people, but I have seen several episodes of MTV Cribs... so that should be enough...

And I'm not talking about being wealthy... I'm talking about being rich... there is a difference... for a full explanation, see Chris Rock's standup routine...

Anyway, what would you do if you were suddenly rich beyond your wildest dreams? I'm talking lottery winnings rich... anywhere from 25-50 million big ones... what would you do?

Well, we have all had these conversations amongst our friends before... you know, how everyone goes around and says what they would do... things like:

-Pay off all my bills
-Quit my job
-Buy my mom/family a house/car
-Travel
-Invest x amount and live off the interest
-Take my family/friends on a trip
-Buy a huge house / fancy car
-Move
-etc

You get the gist of it...

But I wonder, how could you not instantly go crazy from having all that money? I mean, the sudden change in everything you know would be mind-blowing to say the least... it could make your skull plates shift like you had the San Andreas fault running down the center of your skull... just imagine for a second not having to work another day in your life and never having to want for anything ever again...

Your head hurt? Mine too...

I honestly think that riches could drive a person crazy... the paranoia of who wants what from you, the fear of losing everything you have, the worry over your new-found (and rather considerable) responsibility... yikes... and I haven't even mentioned media coverage/scrutiny... I don't care how "normal" you are or were before you got paid... being rich can drive a person crazy...

... or maybe ...

Maybe being rich just brings out the craziness in a person? Yeah, that's more like it... I think maybe that being rich pushes those more admirable personality traits, such as humility or respect, to the background and makes way for glaring egotism and greed...

Case in point? This man... Ron Artest... now he may have had some "issues" when he was younger... but you cant tell me that when he got rich (and famous - but thats a whole other topic), that his craziness didn't shove its way to the forefront of his personality.

Money, fame, an agent, personal assistants, a posse, people to handle his money, his public relations, his "music career" and never having to want for anything definitely let his insanity bust through that once humble and quiet persona... its sad...

At first, I thought that Artest was the benchmark for athlete/rich person craziness... until I remembered this man...

Terrell Owens... The Mayor of Crazytown...

If you read Owens' biography, you will read about a shy, awkward boy who was raised by his very religious Grandmother. Owens was uncomfortable around girls, didn't know how to dance, never said much. His introverted shyness drove him to pour himself into sports, where he excelled.

Yada yada yada... the rest is history...

He is now arguably the most dominant receiver in the NFL, but he isn't playing right now. Why? Because he is all kinds of crazy. The only thing that runs faster than he does is his mouth, which never seems to stop moving and spewing out such insanity that even Barry Bonds is like "damn, he's crazy..."

Anyway... I digress...

Getting back on point, I don't think that anyone I know would go crazy if they suddenly got rich... but what the hell do I know? Maybe they would...

But I can tell you this, if they did, I would be the first to tell them... "Naw man... you aint crazy... umm... can I roll with you in your Mercedes S-Class?"

Hey, I'm no dummy...