Unbidden, a statistic came to mind — something I had read recently about many Americans not being able to come up with $400 in an emergency.2 The realities of economic hardship for the average person felt distant from where I was, hurtling through the rarefied tropospheric air, and at first glance seemed unrelated to the million-dollar acquisition we thought was coming our way. And yet, at the end of the day, it was the same system of money. It was a system that functioned both as a gatekeeper for ensuring survival, and as a means for people like me to demonstrate value. It briefly occurred to
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