GREEN IS THE COLOUR

Green is the colour of money.

The money that birthed you and raised you. The money that built you and sustains you. You breathe, eat and drink money. You sweat money. You’ve become so accustomed to the vast amount of money you control that you’ve forgotten that it’s more than just a status symbol. You have the currency but you don’t know the value.

Consider this: A boy walks into a shop with two hundred dollars and asks for a bottle of cola. The owner rings it up and asks him for a dollar, but the boy gives him a hundred and walks out. Now the owner, if he ever sees the boy again, will expect a hundred. And if the boy buys a multi-pack he’ll expect more. And if he buys a basket full of snacks next time, to go with the cola, he’ll expect even more.

The owner, now blinded by money, starts raising the prices. He knows not everybody can give him a hundred dollars for a cola, but if the boy can give him a hundred, surely everyone else can afford two? And if they can afford two, then they can afford three. Suddenly, the man now owns a shop that nobody visits, because they cannot afford his goods. Eventually the owner can no longer afford to order new stock, and then even the boy stops visiting. Now, because the value of his goods was warped by the boy flashing the cash, his business is ruined.

Green is the colour of greed.

Not content with the vast wealth at your disposal, you use that money to gain control. You choose to use your money to make people do the things you want. Not charity. Not innovation. Not entrepreneurship. Your enterprise is extortion. Your business is blackmail.

Green is the colour of envy.

The envy deep within you, for the life that others lead. You could only dream of people wanting to know you for who you really are, rather than the zeros on your bank balance. Not only have you never known the value of money but you’ve never known the value of friendship, or real love, either.

Green is the colour of sickness.

This is a sickness. A sickness that you’ve had since birth. You are mad with money, ill with ill-gotten gains, diseased with dollars – but there’s no need to fret. This sickness isn’t terminal. There’s a chance for you to be saved. There’s a cure.

Green is the colour of happiness.

There’s happiness away from money. We just need to find another vice to occupy you. A vice like mine. I’m obsessed with creating a world that is better for everyone in it, not just the privileged. Imperium was born of ill will, but we can use it for so much good. Your pocket change could fix the world, Berkshire. So we can take the money and power, and let the glory be changing the world for the better. And when you’ve rid the world of it’s afflictions, you’ll have rid yourself of your own.

Green is the colour of the future.