It's all about the price tag

We live in a world where what you wear defines you more than what you do...
What you drive matters more than where you are heading...
Where you eat matters more than whom you have fed..

Perhaps it's the new age arrogance, but it wasn't a sudden churn.  Every 'age' saw it's bit of change and that's how we are where we are today.. Wherever it is that we are....!

 It all started with a simple man's wish to lead a better life, have a little extra to buy himself some comfort.

"All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?"

And there he sat with his dreamy eyes, leaning over his desk,  thinking of a perfect world where he'd have that extra bit to get his lady a nice dinner.
But then one day he looked over his shoulder. And there he saw a fat man with a flashy Rolex and a girl on either arms.
Suddenly his perfect world with a 'just a  little more' seemed insignificant.
Who wanted a simple glass of hot chocolate and a a warm fire to make one feel cozy when you could wish for a tall glass of champagne and buy the company of exotic escorts.
 
Enamored by the sight he saw, he changed his mind. -from a simple wish of having a little more to spend, he now wanted a lot extra, to splurge.It was no longer about what he really needed, but about what he could have

"Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world"

 But how could he get there, he was a simple man from a simple background. He wasn't born to Kings and Queens. He was the middle class. There were tales of hardwork pushing you up the ladder of success. But it would take him forever to get there. Would he survive the slow climb? How long would it take him to get to the top? What was the guarantee that everytime he took two steps forward, someone wouldn't push him one step back? He was the middle class after all. He was so accustomed to have his toes stepped on that he expected it.
He knew there was no straight way to get to where he wanted to be.
Like everything in the world that time, he wanted his share of the fame and glory instantly. What would it take to get there faster? He was willing for anything.

"Lie for it
Spy for it
Kill for it
Die for it

So you call it trust
But I say it's just
In the devil's game
Of greed and lust"

Even if it meant selling your soul to the devil himself, our man was ready to do so. For he was too blinded by the gleam of the gold that he didn't see where he was headed. H e was so intoxicated by  the smell of fresh notes to know what he was doing. Everyone around him was his competition, and he had to get above them all. He now knew how to climb that mystical ladder faster- all he had to do was step on a back every now and then. Even if it meant losing out on ones he loved.

"If you show me the cash
Then I will take it
If you tell me to cry
Then I will fake it
If you give me a hand
Then I will shake it
You do anything for money"

But how did it matter. After all everything in the world could be bought.He didn't need to be born  to royalty anymore to have people bowing to him. He could buy their loyalty. What if ones he loved wouldn't look at him anymore, he would replace them with gold statues. He had it all.. Or did he?

Was perhaps just a glass of hot chocolate really what he wanted. Was the laughter of his lady more dear to him than the cha-ching of his cash registrar?

What DID he have around him now apart from the shine of diamonds and the glint of gold.

What was a stone in comparison to tender words of love. What was a hard metal of any value for when you needed a soft shoulder to lean on.

He had it all, yet he had nothing, for in his race to fame, not only had he lost himself but also left behind what really mattered.

"Why is everybody so obsessed?
Money can't buy us happiness
Can we all slow down and enjoy right now
Guarantee we'll be feelin' alright

We'll pay them with love tonight"