I normally ignore the celebrity crap on news websites. However, occasionally I decide to read. Today, I did because it involved the host of Top Chef. I love to cook, and while I’m nowhere near the caliber of cooks they have on the reality show, I became enthralled. The fact that host Padma Lakshmi is hot as hell hasn’t hurt though, truth be told.
In a story on Fox News, I found something interesting. Padma says this:
“I don’t get up in the morning thinking, ‘I’m an Indian’ or ‘I’m a woman’ or ‘I’m a person of color’ or ‘I’m this or I’m that.’ I get up thinking, ‘Alright, what can I do to accomplish what I find interesting in the world?’ I never start from a place of my ethnicity or my gender, I start from a place of ambition and just curiosity about the world I live in and enthusiasm for being active, mentally and physically,” Lakshmi added. “Also, because I want a good life for me and my child, I’m professionally ambitious just from a monetary standpoint.”
[Emphasis mine]
The translation? She wants to make money. No apologies, just a statement that she wants the best for herself and her child. You have no idea how refreshing this was to read.
Profit is acknowledged by most to be essential, but a necessary evil. I don’t agree. Desiring profit is no different than desiring anything else. You want a nice car? Cool. You want world peace? Fine. You want profit? Go right ahead.
Profit is, in and of itself, a perfectly noble pursuit. The idea of being paid well isn’t something that people need to be ashamed of. Today, far to many people are made to feel guilty because they seek to make a profit. It’s treated like a dirty thing, one that should be scoured from the Earth, but since we can’t we’ll just make people feel guilty for wanting it.
Yet no one has ever been able to tell me how it’s any different than desiring anything else. The idea that money is somehow wrong is ridiculous. Money is nothing more than a tool used for the exchange of goods. How is it evil? Is it evil because some people do evil things in the pursuit of it? If that’s the case, then you’re blaming the goal for jerk who tries to achieve it. It’s like blaming the woman because she got raped.
Lakshmi simply wants to make as much money as possible. I’m not only fine with that, but she just shot up a bit more in my estimation.