All Good Things Are Wild And Free

That the best, most valuable things in life are free is something that we have known as long as there has been money and markets. Henry David Thoreau showed that he knew this when he said, "All good things are wild and free." We know this, but ignore or distort its importance.

Fashionista, Coco Channel didn't get it, or was engaging in some interesting distortion when she claimed that while the best things in life were free, the second best were very expensive. She got the first part right, but was obviously wrong about the second bit.

Actually, the second best things in life are those that are next to free, or almost free, or virtually free. The farther you go down the line of need, value, or actual usefulness, the less free things become.

Ultimately, the most worthless things tend to be the most expensive. Like $97,000 dollar car wax, or a $725,000 dollar champagne cooler, or a $300,000 dollar iPhone case. How about a little black dress for $5.6 million dollars?

Such silly items are more flab than fab, and they highlight the lengths people will go to try to purchase exclusive luxury items that they think will make them as happy as the more valuable free things that we can all possess.

The love of friends and family, a sense of community, laughter, nature, air, the feeling of meeting a personal goal, the satisfaction of doing someone a favour, walking, and sleep are a few highly valuable free things that come to mind.

All that other second rate crap, though, will cost you dearly.