Kira and a Dog named Money-- Selected Translation
- Most people want to be rich, only some of them have a strong desire for it, while others pretend that they are satisfied with what they have. In fact, most people want more happiness, more success, and more money.
There’s no need to accuse this kind of wish, because becoming rich is the privilege that we are born with. If we have enough money, we will have a dignified life, and thus to help ourselves and others. For those who think that we need to bear with humble(or poor) life, and think this is the representation of having a higher moral ethical–is completely wrong. - When people are reading other’s stories, instead of trying to think of the principles beneath it, they will try to do the same things as the people in those successful man’s stories.
- Complex narration will have the potential danger of deviating from the essence. but telling some basic facts will have those dangers too. Because we will jump into the conclusion quickly by thinking: I know this already. As if knowing a few keywords is enough, but it’s not.
Kira is a nine-year-old girl, she dreamed of having her own dog but the landlord of the apartment she’s living in isn’t allowed any dogs. Her parents worked hard and bought a house with a garden, and in the meantime all those financial burdens landed on their shoulders. So Kira just buried her dream of having a dog deeply in her heart.
One day, she found a wounded dog in front of her house and named it “Money”. It turns out, it’s not just a dog, it’s a dog who can speak and give financial advice to her!
- “but I’m more interested in other topics,” Kira said to Money, “and my mom always says that money is not the most important thing in the whole life of a person.”
“I don’t think so either,” Money said, “but once we have the money shortage issue, it could become a huge problem. Like your parents: they are on a bad financial stage, that’s why they keep talking about this money problem.”
“So I suggest you,” Money said, “please write down 10 reasons why you should become rich, in other words, your ten wishes. make sure you write them down before tomorrow, and we will have a walk at that time.”
Kira feels like it’s just way too early for her to learn about financial knowledge, after all, she is just a 9 years old girl! And more importantly, based on her parents’ experience, money is definitely not a good thing.
Still, Kira make a list of the ten things she wants:
- a good bicycle.
- all the CDs she want
- good looking sneakers.
- calling a friends who lives 200 kilos away as long as she wants
- go to U.S for an exchange program next summer
- pay the debt for her parents
- invite everyone in her family to have a fancy meal in an Italy restaurant
- helping the kids who is as poor as her
- black Nike jeans
- a laptop
After she finishes the list, she suddenly feels like “become rich” is something which is worth fighting for. Because rich people can do all those things easily and so they have the ability to think about other more interesting things.
“circle three of those wishes which are most important to you.” Money said.
“Joining the exchange program to US” “a laptop” ”pay the debt”
“Good start,” Money said, “Now you have to read the whole list everyday, it’s gonna remind you what you actually want. And if possible, having pictures for those things.”
“Are you sure all those things are gonna work?” Kira asked Money, “what’s the principles beneath it.”
“Yes, trust me.” Money said, “it’s gonna work, and you don’t need to know how, just like you just gonna use the electrical devices without knowing how it works.”
And then, it continues: “it’s good to have curiosity about how things work, but don’t let them be obstacles in your way of doing things that are important for you right now. Too many people hesitate because they think they didn’t truly understand it. Practice is the best way of just thinking.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Kira promised to Money, “I’ll try it.”
“No,” Money said, “don’t say i’ll try it. If you’re saying that you are gonna try it, you will end up with failure. “I will try to do it” is just an excuse, it’s the excuse you give to yourself before you even actually do it, it’s just a way to make yourself look better when it fails. So don’t say it, just do the choice: do or not do.”
“Okay, that makes sense, because dad always says that “I will try to win a customer” but he always fails” Kira said, “I will try not to use “I’ll try it”.”
“Ah,” realized that she used it again, Kira said “it’s not easy to change this habit, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I know,” Money said, “but this is the process of learning. It’s not just about new knowledge, learning how to think differently is also important. If we keep thinking about something in the same way again and again, don’t expect to get some new results.”
These words remind Kira of her auntie, she always thinks there are too many things to do, and she can’t cope with all those things, it’s like she could have a mental breakdown at any moment! And that’s why she can’t even finish one. And so is her dad. Right now her dad’s brain is full of those “how are we gonna survive through this financial crisis” kind of thing, which makes every other thing worse.
“Okay, now let’s talk about the one last thing you need to do,” Money continues, “prepare a piggy bank for yourself.”
“But I don’t have too much allowance now, If i put 5$ a week, I can make that “go to US” dream come true when I’m 20 years old, and I don’t have the money to do any other things…” Kira said.
“Did you realize that each time you do something, you always think of the reasons why you couldn’t make it?” Money continues.
“Sometimes,” Kira said, “but what if I can get 2 times of my current number of allowance per week? Say 10$? I would be feeling awesome by that time.”
Money suddenly becomes pretty serious: “Kira, you may can’t understand my words for now, but if your allowance increases 10 times, your financial status will be bad as ever. Because the money we are gonna spend will increase with the rising of our income.”
“There’s an ordinary boy in the US, who got his first million by the time he was 17. So whether you can earn the money, does not depend on great ideas of yours, or the smartness, but depends on how confident you are.” Money said.
“How does confidence have anything related to money?” Kira asked.
“Your confidence shows how much you trust yourself, because if you trust yourself enough, you won’t have the urge to do it. If you don’t do anything, you can’t get anything.”
“And then,” Money continues, “I want you to have a successful diary. Write down everything that you did successfully everyday, at least 5 things each time. At the start, it’s not gonna be easy, because you will constantly think: it’s just a minor thing so it’s not worth it to write it down. If things like that happen, you should answer yourself with “Yes”, because overconfidence is way better than not being confident enough.”
Two suggestions for everyone:
Help others solve their problem and you will earn a lot from it.
Focus on things you know, and you could do.
“Some of my friends want to earn more money too, but they just can’t find one, what happened?” Kira asked.
Money said: “Kira, do you really take your time to think about how to make money? Did you use the whole afternoon to search for it?”
“Well to think about it, the time I’m thinking on this matter combines not even one hour.” Kira said.
“And I want to remind you two things,” cousin Marshall said, “first, don’t put all the hope into just one job, it won’t last as long as you thought it would.”
“Secondly, surely you will met with some difficulties, and those are unpredictable. That means, when everything works well, everyone in this business will be happy, but when it comes to the difficult times, everything will be crystal clear.”
Kira forgot to write her success diary because something happened on that day.
Money: “see? Even though it’s only gonna take 10 minutes, you still could do it. That’s why you should strictly follow the “72 hours” rules, which is, if you decide to do something, you have to finish it in 72 hours, or you won’t do it forever.”
There are four advice for people who stuck in their debt:
Destroy all their credit card
If you have to do a installment, pay with the minimal each month.(why? Because if something unexpected happened later which needs money, we have to make another load to pay for that, which will make debt needs to pay per month more)
If you have a loan which is not a house loan, like buy a new car. Half of the free money needs to be saved and another half will be used to pay the debt. (People always say that we should pay off our debt as fast as possible, because without the debt life will be much easier. But paying off the debt shouldn’t be the goal of your life–go travel, or buy a new laptop should be). Or choose not to have any consumer loan at all.
One last advice: always ask yourself: is it REALLY necessary?
Divide your income into the following three parts:
50% for saving to make more money.
40% for the saving for your life goal–like traveling
10% for daily activities
“I used to tell myself,” Kira thought, “once I really work hard on studying, I can get a good grade like others do, but that’s just an excuse for not wanting to study.”
“But once I study hard, I don’t need this excuse anymore.” Kira said.
There’s too much work for Kira right now, so she can’t do them all by herself, so she hires one of her friends Monica to do this job, and gives her half of the money the customer paid for Kira herself.
At first, Kira thought it’s not fair to do it, because it’s Monica who did all those works, but Kira’s cousin Marshall tells Kira: “what you are doing is only worth half of the wage you earned, and the other half is for your bravery. Monica is scared of asking strangers for the job, and she is happy about what she earned.”
“If you want a better life, the only way is to change yourself. Money can’t bring good or bad things to you. ”
“No one can push or force you to do things you don’t want to do, only you can do that to yourself.”
“Embarrassed because of afraid of difficulty or make mistakes makes millions of people live miserable”
“When you feel like you can’t do something, you could look up your success diary to find proof that you can do it well.”
20 years ago, a german create the first kindergarten, after that, his follower saved many kids from child labor, and restraint them in the game of “being a good kid”. But now, it’s time to rethink what labor is from kids’ perspective. We should provide kids with opportunities, which can help them know the working field of adults.
Earning money is not a bad thing, it could bring advantages to other people and ourselves. Learning how to earn money for a kid will develop the resistance of being dependent. The overprotection of kids makes them isolated from the real world, and makes them immature even after they turn their 20s. For people who are earning money themselves won’t be the slave of their desire in this materialized world.
We recommend a smart and simple life. Don’t throw away things just because their appearance is not fashionable or trendy.
Few rules about become an excellent person:
Be friendly and respect to others
Don’t disturbed too much for unfair things
Only compliment about the shining points on others
Helping others
Be grateful on even tiniest things
Keep studying and practicing
Trustworthy and self-discipline all the time
Kira tells the old lady: “the people in the black album makes me scared, they didn’t look friendly.”
“Yes, be careful of these people,” the old lady says, “after you come to the US, you will confront some of them, and you will meet some on the way back home too.”
Kira started to have some goosebumps on her arm: “is there some way to avoid all those dangers?”
The old lady nodded her head: “yes, there is a way to avoid all the danger. Not going.”
“But that’s my dream and I want to explore the US for a really long time.” Kira says.
The old lady continues: “this is not just the problem of not going to the US, you may lose many opportunities to meet with beautiful things in the future. There is nothing more important to find your white stone in your life. If you don’t try to find it, then there won’t be any danger, but meanwhile, all those happiness that comes with the white stone are gone as well. ”
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