#peter buffet

The Many Faces of China

Portraits of famous artists, businessmen, sportsmen, actors in China:

Last week I had the opportunity to see Peter Buffett in concert at the Victoria theatre in downtown Dayton. It was called a concert, but in reality it was a concert and conversation, which meant he would play a few songs intertwined with conversations he would have with the audience about things like his past, what he’s doing now, and the messages he is trying to convey through concerts like the one I was at.

I will admit, I didn’t think it was going to be that interesting. It seemed, based on what I had heard and read about him, that he was going to be a preachy tree-hugging kind of guy who would be pushing for a cleaner earth. I was slightly right in that sense, as he did play one song about saving plastic. But overall, he focused more on the idea of the individual, and the way he decided to live his life, in an effort to get us, as UD students, to become motivated to take initiative.

In case you were unaware, Peter Buffett is the son of Warren Buffett, a man who became incredibly rich and is world renowned for his wealth while still advocating for charities and global projects to make a better planet.

Now when he walked onto the stage, Peter Buffett told the audience that he was going to talk to us about how to become something, how to be successful in our own way, and how it can be very enjoyable and will lead to a happier life if you just try. He did acknowledge right away that he, as the son of a rich man, has very little room to actually talk about how to apply yourself to be successful, but through his discussions he focused on the idea of doing what will make you happy, regardless of how much money you may be making, because you will be happier in the long run than if you were making a ton of money in a job you might hate.

His message was well spoken and well conveyed through his story, but that’s looking at it on face value. Once I had gotten home from the concert and had some time to think about it, I questioned just how sincere a message like that can be coming from someone who was born into money.

He talked about how his father gave him $90,000 to spend however he saw fit, which he used to build up his career and reputation as a musician, which led to him getting many great job opportunities and eventually being paid enough to do the thing he loved to do, music, as a full-time job.

Here’s my problem: Of course he can tell us a story of how he worked his way up to where he is, he didn’t just use his father’s money to get by in life, and he can tell us how we should do the same, how we should choose to do something we love as a job and become successful that way, but how real is his story. He claims that he just submitted his music to people in Los Angeles and they recognized his talent and picked him up to work with them, but I question that. Now I might just be crazy, but I think the argument could be made that he wasn’t very talented, but when he sent in his tapes to people he wanted to work for, they recognized that he was Warren Buffett’s son, and thought, “Maybe if we give this guy a job, we can make some connections with his dad and the companies he works for in order to build up our company.”

Could Peter Buffett have told us that at is concert? Of course not, because then his message would have been invalid. But the point I’m trying to make is that this man’s message of doing what you want to do and not worry about becoming rich is almost killed once you look at where he comes from. See, it’s easy for someone like him to tell you not to worry about money because he never had to worry about money, and his parents let him become a musician because they figured if he failed they could always bail him out.

For us, as people who don’t come from rich parents, it’s much more difficult to follow that message, especially when our parents are looking at how much it costs to live today and are concerned about how we are going to get by in life. For example, I am a Theatre and Communication double major. I was originally going to just do theatre, but my mom was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough opportunities for me to survive, so I added Communication because there are many more opportunities in that field.

So what’s the point behind this? The point I want to make is that we need to recognize our situations in life before assuming that we can make it in this world by just doing something like music. We need assess our talent, our connections, and our financial situation. Maybe you are talented enough to just do theatre, or music, or art. Or maybe you aren’t the most talented, but you have connections with the right people who can get you to where you need to be in order to make a living. These are the things that must be considered when thinking about a career in the arts, or any job for that matter. Because not everyone can be the son of Warren Buffett.