A good friend of mine, a successful career woman who became the first one in her family to go to college, likes to tell this story about her eldest. Seated in an office decorated with posters and banners of college campuses, the high school guidance counselor turned to her son and asked him if he had thought of what he wanted to be.
''Sure,'' replied the young man, without missing a beat. ``I want to be rich.''
I love that anecdote -- not because the teenager missed the point entirely, not because it left my friend flabbergasted, not because the response strikes me as hilarious. I love it because it echoes the sentiment of so many young people I know.
Stop at a video game store. Stroll through the mall on a Saturday night. Hang out at next month's graduation ceremonies. I dare say that the counselor's question -- her search for a personal mission statement -- would very likely be answered in a similar tone.
I want to make money. Or this from my youngest son: I want to own a couple of McDonald's franchises so I can rake it in.
Quite frankly, I see nothing wrong with such a goal. (Of course, as a parent I hope this dream is tempered with compassion, commitment to community and sense of family.) That kind of ambition, that drive to accumulate, is part of the cherished American Dream.
So I was a little surprised to read that only 13 percent of adults told pollsters it was ''very important'' for them to be wealthy. They ranked the rich factor behind six other priorities, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends project. The lure of wealth, however, varied according to circumstances.
Minorities, the less affluent and adults under 30 were more likely to check off the wealth box. In other words, if you don't have the dough, you want it. Still, the low percentage who dismissed wealth as very important was striking, all the more so because of the other priorities that topped the list.
Having enough free time to do things you want to do. Being successful in a career. Having children, being married, doing volunteer work or donating to charity and living a religious life. Quite heartwarming, isn't it?
Yet, color me cynical. I have a hard time reconciling these responses with the bling-bling I see around me. With the help of credit cards and the siren song of advertising, we surround ourselves with gadgets and cars and houses that afford us the look of the rich. We may not want to be wealthy, but we sure don't mind playing the part.
I wonder if this survey isn't a case of respondents claiming answers others want to hear. We may say we want more free time, for example, but we work long hours to subsidize a lavish lifestyle.
Could it be that the young aren't embarrassed to be honest about their desires? Or are older folks simply more accepting that they likely may never be rich?
I think it may be a little of both. Nonetheless, when my children try on potential careers because these might make them wealthy, I borrow my hubby's admonition: It's better to wake up saying, ''Good morning, God'' than ``Good God, morning!''
