No Comment!

Every now and then I have fun taking inspiration from little "gossip" I happen to read about and use it for my reflections. Today I feel like commenting on a couple of recent "news". Here they are: A modern artwork by a Norwegian artist has been auctioned  and sold for 120 million dollars. A piece of a wedding cake is going to be auctioned, too, and it is expected to fetch at least $1,500, having "raised worldwide interest" (words from the article). Okay, I need to collect myself before writing any comment. Actually, I am not even going to comment because, at this point, I feel very British and say, "No comment". What else can you say? I am just going to present a few questions to ponder upon. What is the correlation between money and stuff being offered for sale? How can a painting, no matter how famous, be valued to such extreme figures? How can a person be ready to spend such a huge amount  just to be able to say, "I own it"? Wouldn't it be more rational to have the painting hanging on a museum wall, so that everybody could enjoy looking at it, rather than keep it locked down in an underground vault? And... what kind of joy or fulfillment could a piece of stale cake - no matter how royal (it's still a cake, isn't it?) - give any intelligent, reasoning human being? What would they eventually do with it? Keep it in a safe? Put it under a glass bell and display it for the admiration of visitors? I have no idea. Could it be that I don't have the soul of a collector (which I don't, sigh!) or could it be that my mind is trained to see things under a particular perspective that makes me discriminate between what is useful, fruitful, uplifting and what is not? Many might not agree, of course. And it would be fine. This is just my humble opinion. But - honestly - if I had some extra 120 million dollars, or just $1,500 to spare, I would probably choose to use them in a more humane, rewarding or creative way, in a way that would make me feel good about myself. What would you do?