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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. –– Matthew 6:19-21
I recently read a profile of two incredible athletes, who happen to play the same position on the same team and remain close friends, so much so that the two went together to the same auto dealer where each purchased their own hypercar, similar in stance and specifications, but wearing the badge of different car manufacturers, one English and one Italian. Having just signed enormous contracts, this constituted their first big splurge.
A hypercar, if you are not familiar with the term, is a word used to describe an automobile that is extremely fast (200+ mph), magnificently engineered, aesthetically breathtaking, and phenomenally expensive (the Bugatti Chiron starts at over $3 million). While these athletes didn’t indulge that itch, they each invested in excess of $1 million, meaning the price contained two more zeroes than the car had tires.
This is certainly not a missive to disparage their achievements, motivations, and desires. After all, there are throngs of not-so-public figures who will spend three to four hundred times that amount to purchase a yacht or ironically, a painting of Jesus by Da Vinci. I can appreciate beauty and brilliance, but the exaggerated market value resulting from it raises the question of whether claim a of ownership becomes an illusion, the price having become all about ego and nothing about value. Do you item the car or does the item own you, or at least your ego.
In the profile, when the reporter asked the athletes if they drove their new hypercars to the interview, the two exchanged that knowing glance indicating their shared conclusion that the reporter knew nothing about the car world. At some point, the price of a car is inversely proportional to the ability to use it. The fear of damaging it, the threat of weather, the cost of insurance, among other things may prompt the “owner” to protect its market value by warehousing the car. Thus, the market value of the car or the price paid for the car precludes the joy of driving it. Fear of a dent or a falling walnut or an unexpected thunderstorm robs you of the anticipation and enthusiasm evoked in the words –– Let’s take it for a spin! Do not touch. Do not sit in it. Only start it occasionally to keep the battery charged. It’s no longer a car but a trophy that only a select few can see from behind the rope.
Similarly, the Geneva Freeport is a warehouse facility in Switzerland for the storage of art and collectibles. It is said that 40% of its collection is art with an estimated value of $100 Billion.
When art is hidden in a vault because it is too “valuable” to expose, is it still art? When the desire to own diminishes the ability to appreciate, what is lost?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we have to hide what we treasure, are our hearts misplaced?
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