I sometimes wonder if I'm too relaxed about things. I grew up thinking that anger is an emotion that should never have a home. I rarely get mad about things. I just don't see a point. "God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

I think it's naive to truly believe that the world can be changed drastically by one person. I do believe, however, that one person can truly make a difference on a smaller scale. There have been too many people who have done just that for me to believe otherwise. I think about them sometimes.

I guess the person I think about the most is Martin Luther King Jr. He was known as a pacifist. He wanted to change things through peaceful protests. I think his goal was to show that we as Black Americans were more than the animals that some White Americans believed us to be. That being said, I wonder how often he got angry. Did he ever punch a hole in his wall in the sheer frustration of the circumstances in which he was in? Did he quietly step into his bedroom, sit down on his bed, and bury his face in his hands, shuddering with every muffled sob? Did one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights movement ever snap at his wife after a long day of marching that ended in getting drenched in water or attacked by dogs?

He may have. Does that make it right? Just because it's human? Maybe.

The root

Driving for four hours on a pretty straight shot leaves your mind open to ponder things that you don't usually ponder. I admit that I spend most of my time listening to the songs that play, attempting to find the meaning that the writer intended or the meaning that I take from it.

Today I pondered about the world at large. I suppose that's unusual, but whatever. I'm sure everyone knows about the Madoff thing. Apparently this guy took off with 50 billion dollars, wiping out several investors all across the world.

Today, one of the investors committed suicide. He was found in his office with his wrists slit and a bottle of pills were near him.

Money is a necessary evil. There are people who say they aren't religious, but I call bullshit. You can worship anything you want, and there are plenty of people who follow strict rules for the way they do things. You can worship your car, you can worship your computer, you can worship a game...you can worship money. Which, I guess, is my point.

Too many people depend on money. Money cannot make you happy. Money cannot solve all your problems. Money cannot redeem all of your selfish acts, nor can it be used to make amends to wronging someone in the past. Money cannot be used to make up for being a bad parent. Money cannot be used to make up for the way you treat your friend. Get it?

Money causes problems. Always. It's the reason so many people get divorced (and, apparently, more people are staying together because it's cheaper), and it's the reason many people are driven to kill.

Why is money so important to you?