What if?, by Ryan Turney

There are a lot of "what ifs" in this world changing the way we look at the ordinary things we do or say in the ordinary (or extraordinary) lives we live. These "what ifs" bring fantasies into reality and venture away from the everyday values we hold. With this in mind, I have one that will make you rethink everything you’ve ever know to be true; everything that makes sense to you will seem completely different. What if there was no such thing as money? Think about it. It seems absurd to actually think about, but when you do you can think of the ways life revolves around it. We sometimes choose to associate with a person based on his or her salary, or on the field they're involved in.  Sometimes we decide how qualified someone is as a doctor or a dentist by the number of patients that visit them, or the status of the people who call themselves patients. We wait for sales in stores to save the maximum amount of money possible so we can continue to spend it on things that we don't essentially need. This saved money goes to dinner parties, birthday gifts, and mass amounts of the latest trends in clothes and shoes that ultimately are purchased to show off –wait for it--money. Even though this isn't true in all cases, the fact that we revolve so much around the dollar is mind-blowing. Without money, would we worry more about what we need than what we want? Would we cut back on the places we go or the people we encounter because we need to worry about survival more than luxury? Or would we completely change and come up with a more realistic valuable object rather than a piece of paper that we put presidents on? Think about how valuable we hold a $100 bill. We long to have one of those, and brag about it holding it in our hand. I could easily print a piece of paper and hold it as close to me as a dollar bill. Once people realize how invaluable a piece of paper is, it could be very scary but humbling as well. We could all be viewed as equal to each other, venturing away from being 'equals' based on money. If we were to just ask ourselves daily, what if one day there was no such thing as money? What if the thing that can drive us to hate each other but also bring so much happiness was no more? This question leads to a different take on life, but is that life something we should try and focus on more? The answer is up to you.