First Word: Mary Judith Ress: Glue

“Glue”

May West once said: “The glue of life is love—except if you’ve got a toothache.”
            Is the glue of life really love? Or is it money?
            In Economics 101, my initial caveat was always: “Girls, I’m here to inform you that it’s not love, but money that makes the world go round.”  Then I’d launch into how money circulates through the system, much like blood.
            How much is love tied to what the loved one has? My hairdresser is forever asking me to find her a wealthy old gringo to care for her in her old age. “Un huevón super rico, no importa si es gordo, flaco o peludo—pero rico, sí. 
            Money, I used to teach, was nothing but the means to move goods and services we all need or crave.  If you’re stranded in the Amazon or in the Valle de la Luna, no amount of money will get you that bottle of water. 
            Where does real wealth reside? In what you own—your house, your car, your diamond ring? Or is it with those you love—your children, your partner, Mum and Dad? Is it perhaps with that part of God you feel you own—He who dwells within you?
            And here we come back to May West again—the love glue is without price.
            That said, I wish I had a few more shekels to may name these days as I meander down the homestretch.