The Should-I-Own-A-Bentley Test

Posted by Parke Ladd on Jun 11, 2009 in Featured {Article}, Greatness | 3 comments

Here in Indianapolis, I’ve recently noticed an increase in the number of shiny, new objects.  One of my favorite high-end, rather exclusive, shiny objects is the Bentley automobile which has likewise been showing up in increasing numbers all over the metro area.

This observation, of course, has not been scientifically tested.  I have no way of proving that we really are or are not in a period of increased high-end automobile sales in Indianapolis.   I simply don’t have the numbers.  However, I do have a plethora of personal observations pertaining to the world around me, and when you’re accustomed to seeing $300,000.00 Bentley’s driven nearly exclusively by James Bond, it comes as quite an initial surprise when you see them pulling up beside you every other day at the grocery store.

I really enjoy the beauty of the Bentley.  There’s just something incredible about the power and design intrinsic to the car that makes it irresistibly hard to ignore.  I like high-end vehicles, and I think that as many people who can afford them and want them should have them. On one condition…

…you first ask yourself why (insert name here:______,why?).  We are perpetually in search of the latest, greatest, fastest, shiniest things available.  We want to partake in shiny trips, drive shiny cars, talk on shiny phones, sleep in shiny boxes, and wear shiny clothes.  The world is full of shiny gizmodos and gadgetos and sleek materials that wet our insatiable thirsts momentarily but always leave us longing for more. Is there anything wrong with owning some or even all of this shininess? Of course not.   But, before you upgrade to that new, slightly better productpalooza or purchase your first, fully-loaded Bentley, ask yourself why.  Why must you have whatever it is that you have to have?

Here’s the Should-I-Own-A-Bentley Test:

1. How much pain is going to be associated with this purchase right now and in 4 years from now? In other words, if I can’t walk in and pay cash for it right now, without thinking about it, then how much am I going to be thinking about it over the next few years (on a month-to-month basis)? Will this decision one day cause me pain?  What’s the Joy : Pain ratio, and are you objectively satisfied with that ratio?
2. Who gets to ride in the passenger seat? If you can buy a Bentley, but you can’t give the homeless woman on the street corner (carrying her entire life on her back!) a ride to her make shift home, under the overpass, 3 blocks away, because you’re afraid she might scuff the leather dash, then you should not own a Bentley. Who you allow to ride in your Bentley says a lot about who you are and whether or not you should own one. If the car becomes more important than the people you could be serving with it, than you shouldn’t own that car.