Wealth and power…I’ve been thinking about them, and one of the ways of demonstrating wealth and power seems to be related to how much space one can get to call one’s own, and how few people one has to share it with. The more wealthy one is, the more space one seems to want…a large house, either a sprawling bungalow or a multistoreyed palace…perhaps several homes, spread out over the globe. And the next thing, of course, having acquired that space, is to prevent as many people as possible from sharing it….except the chosen few of one’s friends, and those who will help maintain that space. Only those invited can breach the walls…walls which are, very often, physical walls around the residences of the rich and the privileged, with security guards to ensure that the hoi polloi and the uninvited do not gain access. Telephone lines are private or unlisted, mobile numbers are not given out…the rich person is veiled in a shroud of his or her personal space, and inaccessibility is the mantra.

The word “exclusive”…means just that. It means excluding everyone, but the elite few whom one chooses to admit by invitation or because of ties of family or friendship…from one’s life, and space.

I don’t like the word….or the concept.