Some people have money “to burn.” Others seem to have enough to throw into the ocean or down the toilet. Such was the case the other day with a 24-year-old rapper, Kodak Black, who was videoed throwing hundred-dollar bills off of a boat into the ocean. Many wonder, “Now, where exactly was that boat?”
According to complex.com (6/30/21): “It’s unclear how much money Kodak threw altogether, but some people online are claiming it’s somewhere north of $100,000. As if that wasn’t wasteful enough, Kodak proceeded to throw more money away Wednesday morning. In the short clip posted on Twitter, he is seen putting about $1,000 into a toilet bowl before flushing the money.”
Apparently, this publicity stunt had something to do with a feud Kodak Black was having against another rapper. Perhaps this was a form of boasting, along the lines of: “I don’t need you – I’ve got so much money, I can throw some of it away.”
Some interpreted the stunt as an anti-Capitalist statement. If that is the case, I think a comparison between capitalist countries and communist countries would show that the former outperform the latter every time.
A textbook example of that is the Korean peninsula. South Korea is capitalist, pro-freedom, and bustling with Christian activity. North Korea is communist, tyrannical, and is perhaps the worst persecutor of Christians on the planet. Many in North Korea are malnourished.
But this is the same country (of origin), with the same language and the same culture.
Capitalism is a system that allows people to reap and retain the fruit of their own hard work, and has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Socialism and Communism, meanwhile, have plunged hundreds of millions into poverty – while autocratic leaders enjoy a lifestyle beyond the dreams of the sultans.
Another person reacted to the rapper throwing away thousands of dollars: “$100K in Haiti could build homes for the almost 60,000 people who were left homeless and living in camps since 2010.”
This whole incident causes one to think about the value of money. When young people come into a lot of money quickly, they don’t always appreciate the value of a dollar.
The Book of Proverbs says, “An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.”
An example of that can be seen in what often happens when people win the lottery. Lottery winners consistently find that the worst thing that ever happened to them was winning the lottery. They lost friends. They blew the money on frivolous things, and then it was gone. I once read a book with 20 case studies of lottery winners. For every single one of them, winning the lottery ruined their lives. One of them was a Catholic priest.
The interesting thing about money is that God owns it all. We are merely stewards of what He has entrusted with, and we will one day give an account to Him for everything.
Some people think the Bible says that money is the root of evil. It does not. It says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Another thing to think about money is that it does not last forever. You can’t take it with you. Even if you’re buried with gold (like the pharaohs were), what is that to a corpse? What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?
When I heard about Kodak Black’s stunt of throwing tens of thousands of dollars into the ocean, I couldn’t help but think of a music video from another singer a few years ago.
I confess I had never heard of Drake until he filmed a music video in Miami, and I personally knew someone who worked on it. The song was called, “God’s Plan,” and videographers captured Drake walking around Miami giving thousands of dollars to real people in need.
Generosity with money indeed fits “God’s plan” much more than just throwing money away to make some point – a point lost on the rest of us who struggle to pay our bills and just make a living.