Guard against the insulation of wealth,

the arrogance of complacency.

A wealthy person is shielded from many of the worries the less fortunate face. How to find a job when her employer closes in a recession. How to pay mounting medical bills when health insurance isn’t available. How to feed his children when food prices keep rising, but hourly pay remains stagnant.

For a wealthy person, it’s a matter of choices, not questions of survival. An existence where, yes, there are conflicts and disappointments, ups and downs, but basic survival issues do not take center stage.

Smug and feeling invincible, many who are wealthy and powerful very easily become arrogant. Convinced that their success is due to their hard work and cleverness, they believe that those who have little just haven’t worked hard enough. Or that they are just plain lazy. Negating any sense of empathy for people who have little, those who have much can advance to having outright disdain for others.

A truly selfish—and tragic—waste of good fortune.