On the other hand, immediately after my conversation with her, I listened to an elementary-school teacher speak to a group of around fifty parents. I knew this man's salary was modest in the eyes of the world and that his wife wasn't employed, except "in the home" caring for their children. He had received honors for his teaching excellence, which is why he was addressing us on this occasion. In the course of the evening, he said something I will never forget.

"I have the best job in the world, teaching third graders," he told his captivated audience. "I absolutely cannot imagine a greater privilege or more personally rewarding work. I honestly don't know why everyone doesn't want to teach third grade." His face shone with delight as he spoke, and there was no mistaking the passion and fulfillment he felt.

And so I began asking myself, "What is wealth?" What I came up with is that attitude determines the answer. Attitude is the largest part of the equation in reconciling the circumstances of true wealth. Perhaps it's the whole equation.
•     •     • One of the main influencers of people's attitudes is pain. The reactions and responses to pain run the gamut, and attitudes can be built or destroyed by pain. Some of us have a low threshold for emotional pain, and often we find ourselves growing because of it.

For some people, emotional pain is ever-present and oh-so-familiar, but awareness of it is lacking. Outsiders can see the pain, and in fact, it may look to them like it would be easy for the person to just give up the pain. But sometimes when there is a great sense of entitlement and little self-discipline, the motivation to grow just isn't there. After all, the attitude of entitlement feels like a power base. This attitude often masks the pain and seems to bury the psychological discomforts behind a wall.

The problem is that since the assumption of entitlement is a false power base, it carries with it a hidden burden—hidden because what feels like power is actually hollow.

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