Letter: Wealth accumulation should be considered a virtue

Emily LaDue writes that we should value "equal opportunity, and environmental respect over exorbitant wealth." I do not. Nothing in the world is more sacred than exorbitant wealth. Vast sums of money are accrued through effort, thought and production. Opposing wealth means opposing work and creation, the means by which man lives. Exorbitant wealth gives us all something to aspire to, and in many instances, jobs. Hating money means embracing death.

Other recent Chronicle columns seem to accept the view that as affluent students--mostly--we owe some debt of sacrifice to the "community." Nonsense. Being aff-luent is no crime, no blemish of guilt: It is earned. As such, the rich ought to be proud, not ashamed. They are generators; the community is in their debt for the businesses they operate and the jobs they provide. If the "general good" is the aim, the "community" would be more logical in serving them. As far as the environment is concerned, people seeking to create exorbitant wealth are those who make the environment habitable, by building houses. Moreover, equal opportunity is not something that may be achieved by robbing the productive rich. Anyone who lives has an equal opportunity--at life, which must be secured through individual action, rather than by guzzling the blood of the industrious. I say to the wealthy students of Duke: Consume and be proud, your families have achieved; what you have is yours and not a soul on earth has any right to claim it.