IS WEALTH DETERMINED BY SIGHT?

 Recently I was watching TV and Andrea Bocelli was singing.  For those of you who don' t know him, he is a famous Opera singer that is blind.  Just like Stevie Wonder, only a different style of music.  As I watched him I thought how blessed he is with his voice and how that voice has provided him with much fame and fortune.  Then it dawned on me that he cannot see all that he has attained.  I have seen his home on YouTube, and it is elaborate, with beautiful portraits hanging on the walls.  Gates the open when you drive up to the property.  The home sits on the beach close to Milan, Italy.  Like Stevie Wonder, when either of them pull up to their elaborate homes they do not see how exquisite it really is.  They both have acquired much fame and fortune but they will never be able to see it.  So what is it to attain all of that and not be able to visualize it.  They wouldn't know if they were in a mansion or a 2000 sq ft home and if they did would t make a difference to them?   They are chauffeured around in limos,  but do they know that.  Could I pull up in a Lincoln Town Car and open the door and escort them in and close the door and pull off and they would think they are in a limo.  How do you enjoy your wealth being blind?  We are all programmed to believe that when we see a mansion, that the person who lives there must be rich.  Because we can see it.  We visualize what rich is.  We think that if we owned the Hummer, and the mansion then we would be rich.  Perhaps that is not true.  I would love to ask Mr Bocelli if he could exchange his wealth for his eyesight would he?  I obviously don't know the answer to that question, but I'm guessing he would say yes.  To be able to see his children, and family.  To see sunrises and sunsets.  To see the grass waving in the wind. To see the waves come up to shore at his beach front home. To be able to see the changes of season.  Maybe just to watch birds fly freely in the air.  All of these things he will never attain with wealth.  Yet we who have our sight strive to attain all the things that are purchasable to show wealth.  

I listened to an interview that he did and he explained that his love is music, and that is when he feels free.  He enjoys walking on the beach with his fiance' Veronica and spending time with his children.  All these things we can also do, yet we don't consider ourselves wealthy.  How is wealth determined?  For those of us who have had close calls in life, we know wealth is not determined by the Hummer or the mansion.  Those are material things that can be bought, but, it doesn't necessarily mean you are wealthy.  For me wealth is determined by the impact you have made on others in your life, and how it is reciprocated.  To have an abundance of love, to share with others.  I thought as I watched Mr Bocelli with his fiance', how he will never know that look on her face as she watches him.  Or how she will never be able to ask him that famous question we women love to ask, "honey does this dress look good on me"?  They can never gaze into each others eyes to feel that love connection. These things we take for granted.  We are wealthy, and don't even realize it.  We want the high item "things" to show our wealth.  I believe that before a man can truly become wealthy he must understand what it means to be wealthy.  When he has reached that point then wealth comes automatically without much effort.  He must first be content with himself, and see the personal wealth that is within him.  At that point his attainable wealth, the material things, will come to him. 

So, what is the answer to the question of how do we determine wealth?  For most people it is determined by sight, but true wealth has nothing to do with sight.  To be rich in love, and life is an unmeasurable wealth that some of us already have, but don't consider ourselves wealthy.  We must rethink our definition of wealth, because wealth is not by sight but too often we base another's wealth on his material things.  To gain the world and lose your soul, is not wealth.  So I can honestly say to others when they ask, are you wealthy?  Yes, I am.