Tall buildings and rich people

Corbett | January 3, 2004 12:11 PM

Every once-in-a-while my partner makes a profoundly astute observation which makes me realize why I married her.

We drive over a bridge every day that has a perfect panoramic view of Taipei 101. There's no spectacular excitement for us living in the city with the tallest building. For many locals this is a BIG DEAL. They flock to the building in double decker tour busses. They point to the sky. They take pictures. They oogle and awe.

The other day I said, "Gee, it really doesn't look that tall." And Irene popped back, "It's just like rich people."
"What?"
"The reason it doesn't look so tall is because there are no other tall buildings around it to compare it too. If there were, it'd be very tall. That's just the same as rich people. Rich people need to be around other rich people, so they can compare their wealth and look rich. They don't look as rich when they are around poor people. Nothing to compare."

Hmmm....

(photo by Christian)

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Category: Mr. Asia

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