Recipient: Evan Lerman Occupation: Counselor for Families and Adolescents, Currently Unemployed Responded On: February 15, 2005 Bill Received At: Pat's Place 5225 Oakton Street Skokie, Illinois Originally Dropped At: Dunkin Donuts 3200 North Clark Street Chicago On: January 28, 2005

 

Evan Lerman's Comments

Does your generation view money differently than your parents' generation, and if so, how?
I’ve got an aunt that basically told me that we have no idea what it was like during the depression. None whatsoever. At this point in time, my mother, who is now ninety, will ask me to drive around the block a few times to avoid putting an extra quarter in the meter not realizing what the price of gas is. So most definitely. They were much more thrifty.

In the United States, if people start out in a very low-paying job, can they still become quite wealthy if they work hard enough?
If they’re educated enough. If they listen to people like Terry Savage and plan ahead, yes, it’s possible. I think it’s very difficult. Especially nowadays. I’m looking for a job and it’s difficult to find. I’m a professional and it’s at the point where, with search committees and everything, just getting through the door sometimes takes several months—if you hear anything at all …

In the United States, is money distributed in a fair way?
Of course not. It’s amazing to me how the people who effect the future—teachers, counselors, which I am … People who effect children are grossly underpaid and some people make ridiculous amounts of money …

Money is not a be-all or end-all. I think a lot of things are lost in our society and they’re being replaced with financial rewards. To give you an example, what’s important to me is interacting and relating to other people. That’s important. Making a difference in the world is important. And the money is secondary.

Having gone through a divorce I found out that money is much more important since you have to spend, regardless of what you’re taking in. Right now I’m paying child support and I haven’t had an income other than unemployment for the last six months. Now I would go to court and change that but I don’t have the few thousand dollars to pay a lawyer to take care of it … And I’m not listened to without a lawyer … I hope that answers your question.

Are people fairly compensated for the kind of work they do?
Not at all. It seems people are compensated for how much money they’re capable of bringing in. Celebrities, sports stars, professionals who can hype a product. And it doesn’t seem as if many of the people who can make a difference in the world are compensated well for what they do—people who have an impact on other people’s lives.

In our society, do people choose a husband or wife partly based on consideration of money? And if so, is that ok?
Many people in our society do use financial considerations to choose who they’re going to marry. And that’s unfortunate.

I think any relationship is doomed to failure, at least unhappiness, if it’s chosen solely on account of what your spouse could possibly earn.

I’ve been single a long time because I’ve been divorced awhile and to be honest I get a lot more girlfriends when I borrow a relative’s car … like a Mercedes or a Jaguar. As a matter of fact, I just have to get into it and somebody starts talking to me …
So, it really bothers me that people tend to be that superficial.

If you had to choose between being rich or famous or accomplished in something you do … but you can only have one of those, which would you choose?
I feel I AM accomplished, although I am not well known. At this point in my life, I’d take rich. There are things I want in my life for myself and others and unfortunately it’s only the money that gets it …

In American Society, generally speaking, do people define themselves in terms of money?
In American society people define themselves in terms of money. I think what people should define themselves with is their heart, their integrity, how they relate to others, and not solely with money.

Oftentimes I’m in a conversation or in a chat room and people are talking about cars or wines and it makes absolutely no sense to me that this is how they relate to each other or try to impress each other.

How does it manifest itself that people define themselves in terms of money?
I think nowadays people really don’t have much of a sense of self. People don’t have the socialization skills they used to have. When I was a kid in the sixties, everybody would be out on the streets. I’d know everyone. It was wonderful.

There was a baseball game at the end of the block that never ended all summer. It was a pick-up game. People were sticking their heads out of the windows. They were on their front porches. This was before the days of decks. When I went to sleep at night on a hot day it would be on Foster beach where there’d be a hundred thousand people on the beach and every other beach. You’d fall asleep on your blanket. The parents would be playing cards and you’d wake up in your bedroom.

People didn’t think about money. All that mattered was who they were and how they interacted with each other and their level of happiness really didn’t have a lot to do with their level of income. Things were cheaper and things were affordable.

The truth is I saw this change with air-conditioning. Then came transistor radios and ear-phones. Then came play stations and Nintendos and cell phones and all these things that keep people from interacting with each other.

All these technological things cost money. First of all they need money to buy these things. But I think that when people don’t have the social skills to deal with each other, money becomes a way to make them look good to each other. It becomes a way for them to boost their ego.

I think money is harder to get right now. And things are much more difficult to buy. And there’s a sense of class and ego involved with the ability to purchase—which really doesn’t define a person, but many people unfortunately think it does.