There was a question (well a few actually) I spotted on Instagram one day that stimulated my thoughts.

The questions were: “Do you think rich & famous people have an obligation to donate money to those that have less?”

“Do you think rich & famous people are obligated to take care of all of their family & friends money-wise?”

“Do you think that rich & famous people are obligated to act as role models to younger generations?”

And: “Do you think rich & famous people are obligated to use their platforms for the current issues that we’re facing?”

Quite a few questions. Before I state my opinion for each of them, I gave a general response towards all of them:

“You have people that earned the right to be rich through the hard work, grind, & dedication they put into being successful. And then you have those that are just given the right to be rich such as things being handed to them without them doing anything, doing absurd things to get attention so it can happen, & so forth. But I always look at it as a choice. Its good to give back to those less fortunate as it shows a good character within you. That is, if you’re doing it for the right reasons & not just for the attention. But then you have those that expect you to give back because of your status & would bash you for keeping things to yourself after you worked hard & earned the right to. That should be motivation to people to stop being lazy & expecting handouts from people when they can simply apply themselves to get to that position. At the end of the day, your life does not revolve around anyone.”

Now lets run through each of them individually.

Keep in mind, the key word in all of this is “obligated” & that this is my opinion.

“Do you think rich & famous people have an obligation to donate money to those that have less?”

As I said in my general response, giving back shows a good character within you. If you have millions of dollars that could contribute to a whole city being fed with food, clothing & proper care, you’d be a righteous person. You understand that there are indeed people that have been worn down & worn out by the demands of today’s society to where they struggle to maintain their lives & their families.

But you also would understand that not everyone truly deserves the help. Us humans are extremely unpredictable. You have people that deliberately make bad choices in life without remorse. You have people that lie, cheat, steal, etc. & make life hard for other people or sometimes are the contributing factor to why others are struggling. If you were to help out a city full of people, you’d have to help EVERYBODY. And that includes the bad. It would be completely unfair for you to pick & choose who gets money & who does not. And giving people things that don’t deserve it would seem like a waste since they’d possibly use the money for other purposes besides bettering their lives.

Not to mention you have those that like I said above, expect you to give back because of your status. Its like you going to the store with a friend, you buying yourself candy with money you earned, & then your friend stands next to you with their hands out expecting you to share. Things like that are small & can easily be handled. But deep inside, you’re giving away a portion that you could’ve had for yourself & that you rightfully bought to have. Your friend did not. Yet, they could have done the same thing you did. Worked to get the money needed to buy the candy & they could have had their own.

Seeing you buying the candy should be motivation in their eyes to get money on their own so the next time you guys are at the store, they will be able to have it for their own. But you have people too lazy to even apply themselves & do the exact thing I just talked about on a daily.

Considering all that I just said, should the obligation still be there?

My personal answer is unknown. It is simply a choice within the person. Only they can decide what they choose to do with their money & fame. Nobody else can or should even try to force you to make your own life decisions.

Next question:

“Do you think rich & famous people are obligated to take care of all of their family & friends money-wise?”

This one is a little easier to give a direct answer to, but still comes with a lot of considerations. Such as the kind of family & friends they are. Were they present through the process of you becoming rich & famous? Were they supportive? Were they there for you through your time of need? Things like that contribute to wanting to help the people you love & care for. Just because they’re your family, doesn’t mean they deserve it all. Such as abusive parents, deadbeat parents, un-loyal friends & family members, etc.

Not to mention do the people in the family have a history of mooching off each other? Have friends done the same? Did they all of a sudden try to be supportive to you & ask you for things the moment you became rich & famous? Some may look at it as regardless of what they’ve done, they’re your family & you should always be there for them. Most definitely easier said then done however, depending on the relationship between you & them.

Just like I said above with the whole candy situation, you worked hard to get what you wanted & someone already stands next to you with their hands out waiting for a portion they didn’t earn.

But of course, you could look at it as paying back dues.

Considering all that I just said, should the obligation still be there?

My personal answer is unknown. It is simply a choice within the person. Only they can decide what they choose to do with their money & fame. Nobody else can or should even try to force you to make your own life decisions.

Now, lets proceed further.

“Do you think that rich & famous people are obligated to act as role models to younger generations?”

This is a funny one to me. Because there are rich & famous people who are rich & famous for doing things young people should not. Such as a woman being rich & famous for being a stripper. Or a man being rich & famous for selling drugs. You get where I’m going with this? You have people doing anything even if its out of their character for the love of money & doing absurd things to build their base. You’d want your kids looking up to people like that? You’d want your daughter idolizing a woman thats always walking around half naked? You’d want your son idolizing a man that dropped out of school, sells drugs, & is at constant trouble with the law?

Now don’t get me wrong, there are indeed some people that have done some crazy things, been through some crazy & hard times, & actually changed their life around for the better & became rich & famous for taking a better path. Their painful stories from the past & how they changed for the better is indeed quite motivating as they become role models by giving guidance to the youth & all people. I applaud those that do.  Rappers are a good example for that.

I won’t discriminate those that don’t & choose to stay to themselves. Perhaps they don’t see themselves as a role model & just want to live their life. Well, if you expect to have kids of your own someday you most definitely will be one. But even if you don’t see yourself as a role model, there will always be someone watching you & following what you do. You’ll be one long before you even know it.

Considering all that I just said, should the obligation still be there?

My personal answer is unknown. It is simply a choice within the person. Only they can decide what they choose to do with their money & fame. Nobody else can or should even try to force you to make your own life decisions.

And now to the final question:

“Do you think rich & famous people are obligated to use their platforms for the current issues that we’re facing?”

Hmm. This is an interesting one. Because the more fame you have, the more people will pay attention to you. Using your fame to address issues in the country or around the world is definitely a noteworthy thing to do by keeping the people educated & aware. It shows a good character in you as well. Because I’m sure you wouldn’t want to have a fan base of brainless people. Or would you?

But at the same time, the purpose behind reaching that platform may not be to bring awareness to the people. Simply just to hold that title as rich & famous & not do anything else with it. Which of course, there are some that follow this. They stay silent & go about their business as they have the right to. Is it wrong? No. Absolutely not. But theres other things to consider as well if you choose to speak aloud.

And those are things such as saying the correct words. Making sure you yourself are educated enough on the topic at hand so you don’t look stupid. Because the people that listen will take what you say & run with it. They believe those that are rich & wealthy know everything. Which can go wrong if you say the wrong things leaving people to think you’re misguiding & misinforming the people. But when you’re quiet, I can’t say you’d have nothing to worry about because there will be people that want to know your opinion on certain matters. And thats where the division starts.

If you choose not to say anything, you will be judged no doubt. By how you react when a question is brought to you, how you avoid them, how what you do could connect to what they believe you to think, & so forth. Assumptions can be incredibly annoying as it may tempt you to want to speak out & shut the people making them up. But then, there will be a war between fans that agree with you & disagree with you. And it may or may not turn out well.

Considering all that I just said, should the obligation still be there?

My personal answer is unknown. It is simply a choice within the person. Only they can decide what they choose to do with their money & fame. Nobody else can or should even try to force you to make your own life decisions.

Now I am sure you noticed that my answer for all those questions in the end have all been the exact same. And that is because I stand by that answer. You are in absolute control of your life & your decisions whether you are rich or poor. There is so much pressure to do things when you are rich & famous because you are in a high position in the world. Everyone looks at you, wants things from you & expects things from you. But at the end of the day, you are always in control. It doesn’t matter if you became rich off doing good, or doing bad, there is no documented law that states the moment you become rich though your hard earned earnings, that you have to immediately start giving it away & contributing your success to the people. If there is PLEASE show me because as far as i’m concerned, there isn’t & should never be one.

We the people make it a general principle for the rich to give back because they have all the money, fame, power & such to help those in struggle. Some may be willing to help for the good, & some may be too ignorant to bother helping. Its just what they choose to do as they have the right to make their own choices just as we all do.

And we the people cannot get angry & rowdy because of what they choose to do with their life. Rather than us wanting more from them, we should want more for ourselves.

Don’t hesitate to state your opinions on these questions either!