Monetize This! (Life is about give and take. Money is but a vehicle.)

Recently, I have been a little shocked to encounter more than a couple former childhood pals, now all grown-up, using the word "monetize" in 2007. Am I alone in my bristling at this conept and the popular use of the word, "monetize?" Monetize in the sense of, "monetizing," web properties?

OK, I acknowledge that I do indeed like to trade products, service, information- value of all sorts- for money. But the thing is, monetize makes it sound like the money is an end in itself.

And that is just CRAZY talk. The value of money is dependent on one's ability to exchange it, right? And this value is also a function of one's desire to get stuff (even if one can spend, one might not need or want). Put a couple other ways: we can't take it with us & richness comes from within.

Is there something wrong with me that money is not my favorite thing and ultimate objective? I think sometimes money can interfere with our opportunity to properly experience a rich life. So in that sense, money can be like the opposite of fulfillment.

Didn't someone, about 100 years ago, warn, "Mr. Rockefeller your fortune is rolling up, rolling up like an avalanche! You must keep up with it! You must distribute it faster than it grows! If you do not, it will crush you and your children and your children's children"? The way I understand it, Mr. Rockfeller's life was quite miserable for a period before he began aggressively putting his money to work.

The other thing is that we (mankind) INVENTED money as a way to store value over time, and that is why it's so crazy to lose sight of a more simple, maybe even primitive humanity in favor for money worship. Life is all about give and take. Money is but a vehicle.