“Wealth is of the heart and mind, not the pocket.”  Sounds familiar, right?  For all you fans; it was presented at the Soho store (Big up to BBC Chris), online at the BBC/Ice Cream website, or on the back of In My Mind.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a quote by Kidult co-founder Pharrell Williams (No, I wasn’t asked or told to do this for any endorsement of any such).  I have seen the quote on all three places, along with personally hearing him say it, but it wasn’t until recently that I saw the bigger picture besides P’s philosophy about how he expresses his passion; the mind.

If you just opened up the BBC/Ice Cream website on another tab after reading the first paragraph, you probably also saw the prices and made the assumption that this is his excuse to pricing.  I see where you are coming from, but I’m sure you have clothes that I can make testimate to in regards of wanting to pay the price you did to get them.  For what it is, and not what it looks like, it’s defiantly an adequate price.  I almost just said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.

Thus, take my example of a book in my English classroom.  If I walked up to the front of the class and held up a copy of The Great Gatsby, I will get 24 moans and one cheer.  Because that was required reading for my class last year; I know those 24 moans come from the title, author, cover synopsis on the back, and style of writing.  That one cheer comes from someone who truly sees the significance of the book along with appreciation for not only that person’s interest, but for the style of writing that tells the same plot that any other style of writing could in much simpler terms.

I was inspired to write this because I was hanging out with a girl named Amanda at the local mall.  A new tattoo parlor opened and they had a big promotion.  I then brought up piercing and tattoos.  After knowing a bit more about her, I ended up telling her my desire for a tribal tattoo on my upper right arm (Dear Mommy and Daddy: I’m sorry you are finding out about this on a blog post).  She asked me why, and it was then when I understood the total meaning of Pharrell’s quote.  I feel as if I know much about my own life along with life allowing me for this to happen.  It goes much beyond getting a popular tattoo.  Their is a lot to the tribal tattoo.  It’s something that I will accept to be tasteful because I will allow it to be just how it is interpreted as; tasteful.  It helps explain me in the same way that I put clothes on my skin.  As humans, we put clothes on all the time.  Majority of the time, it’s to appeal to the senses or pocket.  That’s very easy to do, but it doesn’t go very far except for gained attention.  I would rather acknowledge things that appeal to my mind, it goes a longer way.  Think about it, the pocket only supports your hand.  You actually need to dip your hand in water to test it.  Putting your hand on top or on the surface doesn’t mean anything.  It’s ironic in a sense.

In reference to shallow, I’m disappointed to see how people reflect that quality.  Lady Gaga gave a Facebook post about how she will use music to protest Senate Bill 1070 during her Arizona show.  I went through about 20 comments of about how she should “just sing” and her being a horrible person before I couldn’t read anymore.  Why are you a fan of her, when you don’t support her?  Music isn’t “just singing”.  That’s why you prefer one singer over another.  The Monster Ball Tour is her show, and she is allowed to protest however she wants.  Carlos Duque shared an interesting fact.  No known human culture has ever gone without music being integrated into their tradition.  Music is of the mind and not of the shallow depths of the pocket.

My math teacher introduced me to the life concept of “pay now or later”.  My Spanish teacher also suggested me to pay now so that I have a bit extra to work with along with security.  The pocket will allow you instant gratification, but if you understand the concept of seeing past what the senses are stimulated by, then you will gain wealth in your heart and mind.