A World Without Money!

I remember walking back from my school one fine afternoon. There was a street vendor, standing under his multicolored umbrella, selling the most tempting savouries. Spirited, I ran towards him and all I could think of was the delicious golgappas. After devouring an entire plate, it came to my realization that I had no money in my pocket. The vendor looked into my guilt-ridden eyes and asked, did you enjoy? In fraction of a second I replied, "yes, a lot". With a wise smile on his face, the shopkeeper said, thanks for my money kid, you may go now. I was too young to understand what he meant back then. However today, his act of kindness inspires me to imagine a world devoid of the concept of money

The concept of money is so deep-rooted in our society that it is nearly impossible to have a world otherwise. But, I would still love to venture on to drawing a picture of this dystopian world.
In this world, a farmer would farm, a cleaner would clean, a doctor would heal, a shopkeeper would provide. The only difference is that none of them would get any form of money in exchange for the products/services they’d provide. The value of a profession would not defined by a steady source of income. People would chose their professions based on what lit a spark in them, hence committing to it in a way the golgappa vendor did. Students would go to school to educate themselves without worrying about becoming a doctor/engineer or a lawyer. In this world, a farmer, a lawyer, a cleaner and a milk-man would sit together with immense respect for each other, devoid of money-defined-class-based prejudices, enjoy over their evening tea and discuss ideas. It would be a world where people would act without a sense of greed or a desire to accumulate, instead with a sense of empathy and trust for their fellow beings.

This dystopian world might sound like an extreme imagination, inconsiderate of the practicalities of our real world. My objective of this imagination is to understand the implications of money to our real world. It is hard to understand whether the negative qualities of greed, distrust and disrespect derive from the concept of money or if the concept of money derives from them. But, what I believe in, is the existence of a link between these.

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