Hoping for wealth in order to distribute it
Burnett describes his ambition to be wealthy, not only to afford a greater degree of freedom in his life, but also to contribute to his community.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Tracy L. H. Burnett, November 15, 1994. Interview K-0088. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- JEFF COWIE:
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You made an interesting comment before. You said you wanted to be
wealthy, and you knew you wanted to be wealthy.
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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I'm going to be.
- JEFF COWIE:
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What do you expect--? I mean, how wealthy do you want to be, and what do
you expect to get from it?
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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What do you mean, what I consider being wealthy or something like
that?
- JEFF COWIE:
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Yeah, sure.
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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Man--.
- JEFF COWIE:
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You just seem really ambitious.
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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I couldn't put it in a figure, a monetary figure.
- JEFF COWIE:
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That's fine.
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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I think being wealthy is telling your mom that she doesn't
have to go to work the next day. Man, just jumping up and going
somewhere. Just jump on a plane and just go. You don't have
to plan it in advance. Not have to worry about anybody controlling, you
know, my life or saying, "Well, I want to sell my plant, and
you're out of a job." Wealth just comes to me in all
kinds of different ways. I think when I think about wealth, gosh, just
being free, I guess, to do what I want to do. I've got a lot
of things that I want to do in a community, and by being wealthy I could
do them.
- JEFF COWIE:
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What sorts of things do you want to do?
- TRACY L.H. BURNETT:
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Oh, man, shoot, gosh, like homeless people, I can't stand to
see homeless people. That just tears me up. I can't stand it.
I'd like to build a shelter.
The kids, they don't have like no where to go. No gyms. No
place where they can just go and just be together. I'd like
to build a gym or something like that or a rec center.
There's just a lot of things that I see that the
community needs that I would like to provide which I know one day I will
be able to. I'm just a giving person.
[laughter]