These are time sensitive. You do not receive credit if you write them after the deadline each week.
First, there's a blog entry (about 250 words) which will have you respond to a hopefully thought-provoking question. Each week, you must do the blog entry with enough time left in the week to be able to enter into dialogue online with your classmates. Write, reply, write more, reply more, and then write and reply more.
Second, there's a reading. There’s no blog entry associated with this. Just read.
Third, there's a written response to the reading. Your reading and writing on the blog must be completed by the SATURDAY (by midnight) of the week in which the reading falls. This entry should be a long paragraph. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO OTHER STUDENTS' PART THREE EACH WEEK.
Monday, February 17, 2014
WEEK SEVEN WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ
Take a position for or against the author's main point or any of the other assertions in this article.
I actually think that being rich isn’t the best thing because you can have as many concerns and worries as someone who is not rich. The problem about this argument is that since we are not rich, we do not know the reality about their lives. We tend to generalize and to think that everything is exactly as we hear or see it in the television, but that is a wrong assumption from our part. We should understand that no one is perfect and that everyone has problems. I agree with the author that the main concern for rich people and for any person is their family. We should have in mind that it is difficult to have control over our family in normal situations, but it should be even more difficult when your family has access to almost everything they want. If there are many things that can ruin a person’s life when there are few choice and options, then it should be more difficult when a person has access to an almost infinite amount of options. A rich person does not only have to worry about their business and being able to keep up with today’s world, but they also have to take control of their family and help them make the right decisions. Being rich doesn’t mean everything is easier for you, it only means you have more opportunities and freedom than other people because of the power of money. Having money doesn’t save from the problems any family faces and it doesn’t save you from death either, but it can make things a little bit easier for you in your life.
I agree with author, money does not by happiness. It does not matter how much money you have because we are all human and we all deal some problems. The issues that come up in our lives may not be exactly the same, but we still come across it. Just because you are rich does not mean you are special or perfect. You could have all the money in the world and have an alcohol problem or drug problem like it said in the article. Money can buy luxurious things, but it will not solve all your problems. People with money still work in even if it is just on investments, but they still have to manage their life like any other person. In the article the research found that people with money worried about having meaning in their life and for their children to do the same; I think we all strive for that. Even if you have money, you need to have some kind of goal or aspiration to continue living. Maybe the struggles that people with money go through do not seem that devastating or difficult, but they are still problems. In my opinion, if I had that much money I would always be concerned if the friends I have are truly my friends for me or for what I have. No one ever wants to find out that the friends they have are just using them to gain something. For people to truly understand what any one goes through in their life, they have to be in that person's shoes.
Money buys many things. However, happiness is not one of them. Having money will not prevent family issues or health problems. They might be able to afford great family counselors or top of the line medical treatment, but that doesn't change the fact it happens to them just like people without a lot of money. I agree with the author. His point about what we think we know about people with money comes mostly from media is accurate; at least for me. What I know about people with a lot of money comes from television shows I've watched or things I've heard in the news. $25 million is a lot of money, this could solve many peoples problems such as paying of bills or college tuition. Just because it could solve some peoples problems doesn't mean it cant make new problems occur. I agree that it would be very hard to trust if people loved/wanted you for yourself or your money. I was a little surprised they were so concerned their children. In the movies you see people with millions send their children away and focus of their own wants/needs. I think its great that most of these millionaires still want their children to "make a life" even if they have millions of dollars. The only thing I disagreed with was how the author mentioned how money causes problems because of all the overwhelming choices. People without millions have choices to, many which are very overwhelming. I think its about how you make the right choices, not about how much money you have.
I found this refreshing because as the beginning of the article stated, most people assume that people with money are like those you see on tv or in movies. As a mom, I loved hearing that their main concerns were with their kids. I never thought about how being young with money could leave you ostracized from your peers. Growing up it was the poorest kids that were taunted (how mean can kids be? sheesh!). I can understand how being a rich kid would be lonely because you don't know if the people who are hanging out with you are there just because of your money. Its like having your own pack of yes men; how annoying. That makes it more understandable of why we see child stars turning to drugs so often. Having money does make things like, not having to worry about bills refreshing and awesome, but if you're a parent it probably can make things more stressful. The part about how the rich find is stressful because they have too many options (if I read that right) was kind of infuriating. "I need a new car. Oh which one to buy, theyre so many of them" ugh, whatever!
Rich people do have access to many things that lower class people don't. Money isn't a worry for them. They don't have to stress about paying the mortgage, car payment, or any house bills on time. I don't think they will ever know what it feels having to be stressed about what to pay first and what can hold on for a couple more weeks until you get your next pay check. Because they have all this money they are stress free of not worrying about their lights being shut off, but even with all the money they might possess they won't escape the human problems every one faces, such as jealousy, infidelity, or the loss of a loved one. I like how it mentioned that just because some one has so much money after a while like how much of what ever item can one buy. I guess growing up I always had the idea of if I had been born rich I would buy so much stuff. But as I grew I began to realize well how much is enough and after reading this article it made me wonder if the rich people ever question themselves like why do I have so much money let me donate a big percentage to a charity that will be beneficial to the world, or let me donate to developing countries where children won't die of hunger.
I agree with the author, money does not buy happiness at all. Money does not solve everyday human issues that we all run into. Like the article said, even with all the money in the world, you can run into severs problems such as addiction problem. The meaning we have of richer human beings comes directly from media. We see how people with a lot of money act in movies and some people expect that in reality. This is not true, because they are still human beings. Just because they have the best car, medical treatment, and chefs, doesn't mean they are perfect and never run across a problem. I think the hardest thing would be not knowing if others loved you for your money or for you. You see people around that are showing with their money: fancy clothes, fancy car, and the best of everything. It's like they say, "you can never judge a book buy its cover." That person may look happy on the outside, but is screaming on the inside because he or she is so miserable. I wasn't sure about is comment on how more money brought more choices. I believe people without money stress more and have more choices in life. I agree with the fact that people that have more money have the ability for more choice they would enjoy and do not worry about the better choice. The rich would worry about the more enjoyable choice, while people with less money worry about the right and more effective choice. Money is a complicated object in our lives.
To me some of the closest families I have ever met have been families with less money. I defiantly agree that money does make things easier however; almost never do I see things are better in rich families. When the family works together to conserve resources or collect money for a fun night out it has more meaning behind the evening. As opposed to the family that does not see how fun a movie and ice cream are because they go every weekend. Also, families with less money can bond together to send a sibling to a camp that they have wanted to go to forever, or give them the opportunity to participate in a sport. When the entire family works for each other the accomplishments mean more than anything to them. As a whole they all know that they took part in paying for the opportunity to grow or allowing them to practice basketball and being ecstatic when they score the last point. Hopefully, the family has enough money for food and necessities. If the family does not that is where I see the problems beginning. This is just the same as having too much money. Either way if you have money or not I think that you can have problems emerge.
I loved this article and the author's points! We all hear that "money is the root of evil" and it seems as though we may not show any mercy on the economically stable, or rich. Coming from a pretty limited neighborhood, my mother had raised me to think about my "needs" instead of "wants" in order to make ends meet. It's not like I was ever homeless or went without food, but socially I was considered "poor." I had friends that got computers, toys, and "everything they/I wanted" for birthdays and Chrismas' and thankfully, I was only happy for them because :at least I had what I needed. Other people in my situation didn't think that and I would often hear things like, "Rich people should pay more taxes," "Rich people should give more money," etc. I understand that may seem reasonable, but in a way it's unfair. I like thinking that rich people weren't always rich. I like thinking that they worked hard to become wealthy, took risks or something similar to get to where they are now. It could be that their wealth was given and passed to their families too. My point is that rich people most likely weren't at one point. They are also people too. They have feelings, families, and experience unfortunate events too. And if "money really is the root of evil," then shouldn't we be happy that we don't have as much money as the rich?
This was a very interesting take on an overwhelmingly common assumption towards these individuals. We do tend to think that because they have all this money, what issues could they really have? They could pay someone to clean up the spilled milk, fix the flat tire, and bring in the new dryer when it needs fixed. But the author does a great job and realizing that these assumptions really are just assumptions. These individuals do face issues, it's just that so many of us may not be able to relate to those issues, so we don't see them as such. I completely agree that these individuals tend to be in a class of their own and when that happens, they will almost always struggle in areas that average individuals wont. As the author stated, we tend to have the support system and friendships we need to help us through tough times because we are able to relate to each other; these individuals however, do no always have this luxury. They are often very distant from others because so many people are already prejudging them. While I am able to see the vast number of upsides having a lot of money provides, it is also very important to realize that having that money will also lead to its own problems that will more than likely leave individuals alone to deal with.
This is an interesting article and an interesting research they did as well. I agree that money can’t buy happiness. However, I actually expected a deeper explanation about how all those findings and psychological aspects relate to each other and have caused each other, and could lead to a conclusion that yes, money can’t buy happiness. Having read this article (just this article and its research result), I see that most of respondents’ responses are rooted to what I think, relationships. When they responded to why money was not always helpful, they said that they concerned about the way their children would be treated by others, they wondered if their children would know if people really loved them or their money. They worry about their kids’ relationships to others. When they were asked about their greatest aspiration in life, they said they wanted to be a good parent. When they were asked about their aspirations for the world, their answers were consistently on how to help the youth in the world live healthy, meaning, and impactful lives. Again, all are about relationships. Good relationships will satisfy their aspirations, and will erase worries. And they will feel happy.
Unfortunately, as the author mentioned in the last couple sections on this article: “One of those concerns is this feeling of isolation”; “But what you often lose when you have all this money is the friendships that support you through the difficult times.” That is true. However, the feeling of isolation does not come from outside, it comes from inside, from ourselves. We can “read” clearly from the respondents’ responses to the questionnaires how they are being isolated by their thought and by what they are doing: when they were asked how their money helped them to be a good parent, their answers were good schools, travel, security, varied experiences; all are material things and nothing is about strengthening their relationship with the kids. When they were asked about their greatest aspirations for their children, they isolated themselves by expressing “the world” as “their world”.
Isolation - that will ruin relationships. The ruined relationships will steal your happiness. So, if we have a lot money, why should we isolate ourselves from the world? That’s a natural process.. I think..… if we just go with the flow without adding effort from ourselves to prevent being isolated, we will end up in an isolated world. Money can buy happiness, if we can keep maintaining our rewarding relationships with others. Money can buy happiness even more…if we can use the money to extend our rewarding relationships to more people in this world. Yes, that’s not an easy thing to do.
The point made by the author, as I understood it, was that money does not buy happiness or solutions, but it does buy jealousy and hatred from others. I believe that money helps to solve financial situations for a lot of people, but even when all of those financial debts and needs are covered, it doesn't mean people are happy. Also, it doesn't matter how much money someone has we are all going to die and money cannot buy life. Life is the most precious thing we can have, and money cannot buy it. Therefore, rich or poor we are all going to end in the same place. After reading this article, I rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.
I agree with the author, Amy Novotney on Money cannot buy happiness. Money can only buy so much happiness until one runs out of things to do or buy. Reading the article, the people with money were most concerned with their children and having them live a great life. This great life didn’t necessarily consist of having their children be rich and be wealthy, but rather for their children to live a good life and make it meaningful to them. Money makes the world go around, but what people don’t know is that money can also cause issues. There are issues that occur when one’s socioeconomic status is believed to be inferior to another’s. Therefore, people are labeled as snobby, stuck up, and/or spoiled if they come from a wealthy family. This can make it difficult for people to be more social with others, and gain genuine friendships. In the article, Novotney states that often time’s, people end up with too much temporal freedom that individuals then don’t know what to do because they have so many choices and can get whatever they want. This can lead to trouble, such as experimenting with drugs. Often times we hear of wealthy people getting into drugs and having unlimited supply, that sometimes people get so caught up in them, that they suffer from addiction. I believe happiness comes from love and compassion from human interaction. Furthermore, when individuals are able to build significant relationships with other individuals, I believe that is when life becomes beautiful and meaningful.
I agree with Amy Novotney. Living in a capitalistic world we assume that money is the answer to all our problems,as the author points out, we believe that not having to worry about mortgages or expenses will make us happy. Every person in America dreams about winning the lotto or making it big because that means that their worries will be gone but as this study shows, money does not buy happiness. It is a form of making life easier but it leaves you with an emptiness and insecurities. People with such vast amounts of wealth will never truly be sure who loves them for them or who truly cares for them. This ultimately will make them feel lonely and they will turn to drugs or reckless behavior. The public has seen this happen countless of times with the actors, singers, and sports stars. For example Michael Jackson,a millionaire and famous singer, who was suppose to be happy by our standards but ultimately lost his life to drugs.He had it all but at the same time had nothing. In the end happiness is not tied to wealth, its tied to sharing meaningful experiences with other individuals.
It is true that people assume that the wealthy have everything. I would love to win the lottery and not have to worry about bills and having to cut down on expenses, but not at the expense of losing my true friends or losing time with my family. This article helped me understand that even the wealthy have fears and concerns. Everyone has emotional fears and that is something money could never truly fix.
It is rather disconcerting that people feel the “wealthy” have the best of it all. The author dives into how many wealthy people have too much freedom, or the fear that their children will grow to be lonely or taken advantage of. These are all true problems that the wealthy probably deal with, however it is not as if the wealthy of this world chose not to be wealthy. Clearly those people either 1., chose to work hard to get their current financial status, or 2., they were birthed into the status they hold. Trust funds and pampered children are something the wealthy struggle with, however they choose to continue that status. I do not necessarily agree with this issue of too much freedom, perhaps because I do not have the wealth of these individuals surveyed. I enjoy having a sense of purpose in the world. If I had an upward of $25 million my work would still continue. I would continue to work with the people and gain a sense of importance on my own accord. Money comes and goes and it does not go with you when you die. Everyone has their own issues, and no matter what you physically have, you will always have problems. The way the problems stem just change with the type of person you are.
I totally agree with author, Amy Novotney. Wealth and money will never be able to buy happiness. Though, Money does help keep a roof over your head and food in your the stomach but it does not help you with a drug addiction. The reason we believe that people with money have happy lives is because the way media portrays them. We do not see what happens behind the curtain. I think families with endless of moneys can have happy lives to but they must learn how to handle problems and issues that come their way. Ultimately, happiness is a state of mind, the poorest family in the world can achieve happiness as well as the richest family. I believe the only thing that is evil about so much money is the problems it can create, like for example Isolation. The author states that the number one concern with wealthy families is the feeling of isolation, and the higher the wealth, the worse it gets.That amount of money can cause you distant your selves from friends and family. In the end, Money is not everything but it is fun to have. Give me 25 million and i will guarantee you that I would be the happiest person in the world ;) lol
It really shocked and surprised to me to read the responses they had got from the survey. I had expected reading different responses, but that proves that I even believed the stereotype and was quick to judge. It just shows we need to have more faith in humanity and that not all the higher class people are selfish and self-centered. I'm very excited to read those responses because I'm happy to hear they don't want their children to be stereotyped and judged by their peers, they care about what their children can do for this world and their communities, they care about their children's goals and aspirations. Most of all, they want to succeed at being a good parent and teaching their children good morals. My concern with children growing up in wealthier families was that they were going to grow up only caring about the money and nothing else. I realized much with this article and have faith in humanity.
I agree. It really gave me a different idea of how the wealthy can be. I could understand their concern for their children because they would truly never know who their true friends were. Also the part where it said that their children could obtain drugs more easily even worried me. People do assume that the wealthy have it easy, but they have troubles and worries like everyone else.
I can see why the author wrote this article. People assume that because some people have a lot of money that they have no worries. They may be financially safe and have all the things they want in life but that doesn't mean they have what they need. Sure, they have a sense of security, but they will always have worries and fears like everyone. This article had me thinking about how they fear for their children's mentality and how they would be emotionally affected. My parents are not multimillionaires but they are upper middle class citizens. Growing up, my siblings and I had everything we needed to live a comfortable life and even got things that we simply wanted. It was tough being seen as spoiled and not knowing if you had true friends, or if they were just hanging out with you for the benefits and things you had. I admit I took advantage of my parents and in doing so I began to ditch college courses to go hang out with the wrong crowd and partied most of the week. I rarely saw my family because I was always driving around or staying at friends houses. I had no inclination of how my parents were feeling or had any respect for their emotions. I only thought of myself and wanting to give my friends a good time. Money has a way of making people selfish and care-free. Humanity is no longer about being humane or caring, but about greed and material goods. Now that I am older and more focused on my schooling and career path, I cleaned up my act and have a more independent outlook on the world. I want to be able to make a positive difference for the world. I had to realize that I will not always have my parents there to take care of me and that I will have to be the one that takes care of myself and others. When you depend on money and materials, you begin to assume that's what you have to have in this world. Today, I never have more than a couple hundred dollars in the bank and have to make cuts in my life to be able to pay bills, but I couldn't be happier because I am able to spend more time with my family and true friends who have stayed by my side throughout the good and bad times. The little moments in life are more important than any amount of money.
I agree with the author as well, money can not buy happiness. It is not written in stone, that if a person is rich he or she will be fit mentally and physically. Having loads of money does not guarantee that a person will be happy in his or her family, have high self-esteem, and be at peace psychologically. From a physical stand point, there are many wealthy individuals who suffer from diseases or conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Achieving happiness is a skill of the mind, internally a person needs to find peace within him or herself before he/she could admire the existing surroundings that exists around him/her. To put it short in a broader sense, things are what your mind perceive them to be. Being wealthy certainly helps in the financial aspect of life, but it does not help at a great deal with mental stability, or becoming a caring human being for the society and family. There are individuals that are not rich, but they still manage to have a positive attitude, love their family, be physically healthy, and love themselves. I believe that if a person is not humble to him/herself and others, then acquiring more and more wealth makes them take people and things for granted. I am not saying every wealthy person is this way, but quite a few many are in today’s society. If being wealthy was a requisite to obtaining all the happiness in the world, then I guess no middle or low income person would be seen enjoying life for what it is.
I agree with the author. Just because you are rich, it definitely does not mean you are happy. Money can buy you all of the fancy and luxurious material items you want but it can never give you the love, warmth and peace we all need as human beings. Money can never satisfy you or fulfil your longings for companionship. Life will come with struggles, no matter how much money you make. I also agree with what the author mentioned about how many of the people interviewed, said they were more concerned about their children leading a meaningful life rather than just making a lot of money. I can imagine that as a parent you would want to feel proud of your children and you would want them to do something that is beneficial to life and to other people. I wonder if kids who come from rich families want the same things for themselves as their parents want for them. I would think that the kids would be more into having flashy cars and clothes than doing something that could better their community. I could always be wrong though; I could be basing this assumption off of the typical stereotypes of rich people,
The author makes the point that being wealthy doesn't bring happiness in itself, which is a point I wholly agree with. It would seem that money tends to bring more problems in regards to social situations rather than stressful financial situations. I have the unfortunate luxury of being related to a sibling who takes money as her life and everything else is second rate. While she was "blessed" with living with my rich father, I chose to live with my mother, who is financially less so and I think I have a better respect for what money and happiness are and how they are related, but do not need to be intertwined.
I actually think that being rich isn’t the best thing because you can have as many concerns and worries as someone who is not rich. The problem about this argument is that since we are not rich, we do not know the reality about their lives. We tend to generalize and to think that everything is exactly as we hear or see it in the television, but that is a wrong assumption from our part. We should understand that no one is perfect and that everyone has problems. I agree with the author that the main concern for rich people and for any person is their family. We should have in mind that it is difficult to have control over our family in normal situations, but it should be even more difficult when your family has access to almost everything they want. If there are many things that can ruin a person’s life when there are few choice and options, then it should be more difficult when a person has access to an almost infinite amount of options. A rich person does not only have to worry about their business and being able to keep up with today’s world, but they also have to take control of their family and help them make the right decisions. Being rich doesn’t mean everything is easier for you, it only means you have more opportunities and freedom than other people because of the power of money. Having money doesn’t save from the problems any family faces and it doesn’t save you from death either, but it can make things a little bit easier for you in your life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with author, money does not by happiness. It does not matter how much money you have because we are all human and we all deal some problems. The issues that come up in our lives may not be exactly the same, but we still come across it. Just because you are rich does not mean you are special or perfect. You could have all the money in the world and have an alcohol problem or drug problem like it said in the article.
ReplyDeleteMoney can buy luxurious things, but it will not solve all your problems. People with money still work in even if it is just on investments, but they still have to manage their life like any other person. In the article the research found that people with money worried about having meaning in their life and for their children to do the same; I think we all strive for that. Even if you have money, you need to have some kind of goal or aspiration to continue living.
Maybe the struggles that people with money go through do not seem that devastating or difficult, but they are still problems. In my opinion, if I had that much money I would always be concerned if the friends I have are truly my friends for me or for what I have. No one ever wants to find out that the friends they have are just using them to gain something. For people to truly understand what any one goes through in their life, they have to be in that person's shoes.
Money buys many things. However, happiness is not one of them. Having money will not prevent family issues or health problems. They might be able to afford great family counselors or top of the line medical treatment, but that doesn't change the fact it happens to them just like people without a lot of money. I agree with the author. His point about what we think we know about people with money comes mostly from media is accurate; at least for me. What I know about people with a lot of money comes from television shows I've watched or things I've heard in the news. $25 million is a lot of money, this could solve many peoples problems such as paying of bills or college tuition. Just because it could solve some peoples problems doesn't mean it cant make new problems occur. I agree that it would be very hard to trust if people loved/wanted you for yourself or your money. I was a little surprised they were so concerned their children. In the movies you see people with millions send their children away and focus of their own wants/needs. I think its great that most of these millionaires still want their children to "make a life" even if they have millions of dollars. The only thing I disagreed with was how the author mentioned how money causes problems because of all the overwhelming choices. People without millions have choices to, many which are very overwhelming. I think its about how you make the right choices, not about how much money you have.
ReplyDeleteI found this refreshing because as the beginning of the article stated, most people assume that people with money are like those you see on tv or in movies. As a mom, I loved hearing that their main concerns were with their kids. I never thought about how being young with money could leave you ostracized from your peers. Growing up it was the poorest kids that were taunted (how mean can kids be? sheesh!). I can understand how being a rich kid would be lonely because you don't know if the people who are hanging out with you are there just because of your money. Its like having your own pack of yes men; how annoying. That makes it more understandable of why we see child stars turning to drugs so often. Having money does make things like, not having to worry about bills refreshing and awesome, but if you're a parent it probably can make things more stressful. The part about how the rich find is stressful because they have too many options (if I read that right) was kind of infuriating. "I need a new car. Oh which one to buy, theyre so many of them" ugh, whatever!
ReplyDeleteRich people do have access to many things that lower class people don't. Money isn't a worry for them. They don't have to stress about paying the mortgage, car payment, or any house bills on time. I don't think they will ever know what it feels having to be stressed about what to pay first and what can hold on for a couple more weeks until you get your next pay check. Because they have all this money they are stress free of not worrying about their lights being shut off, but even with all the money they might possess they won't escape the human problems every one faces, such as jealousy, infidelity, or the loss of a loved one. I like how it mentioned that just because some one has so much money after a while like how much of what ever item can one buy. I guess growing up I always had the idea of if I had been born rich I would buy so much stuff. But as I grew I began to realize well how much is enough and after reading this article it made me wonder if the rich people ever question themselves like why do I have so much money let me donate a big percentage to a charity that will be beneficial to the world, or let me donate to developing countries where children won't die of hunger.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author, money does not buy happiness at all. Money does not solve everyday human issues that we all run into. Like the article said, even with all the money in the world, you can run into severs problems such as addiction problem. The meaning we have of richer human beings comes directly from media. We see how people with a lot of money act in movies and some people expect that in reality. This is not true, because they are still human beings. Just because they have the best car, medical treatment, and chefs, doesn't mean they are perfect and never run across a problem. I think the hardest thing would be not knowing if others loved you for your money or for you. You see people around that are showing with their money: fancy clothes, fancy car, and the best of everything. It's like they say, "you can never judge a book buy its cover." That person may look happy on the outside, but is screaming on the inside because he or she is so miserable.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure about is comment on how more money brought more choices. I believe people without money stress more and have more choices in life. I agree with the fact that people that have more money have the ability for more choice they would enjoy and do not worry about the better choice. The rich would worry about the more enjoyable choice, while people with less money worry about the right and more effective choice.
Money is a complicated object in our lives.
To me some of the closest families I have ever met have been families with less money. I defiantly agree that money does make things easier however; almost never do I see things are better in rich families. When the family works together to conserve resources or collect money for a fun night out it has more meaning behind the evening. As opposed to the family that does not see how fun a movie and ice cream are because they go every weekend. Also, families with less money can bond together to send a sibling to a camp that they have wanted to go to forever, or give them the opportunity to participate in a sport. When the entire family works for each other the accomplishments mean more than anything to them. As a whole they all know that they took part in paying for the opportunity to grow or allowing them to practice basketball and being ecstatic when they score the last point. Hopefully, the family has enough money for food and necessities. If the family does not that is where I see the problems beginning. This is just the same as having too much money. Either way if you have money or not I think that you can have problems emerge.
ReplyDeleteI loved this article and the author's points! We all hear that "money is the root of evil" and it seems as though we may not show any mercy on the economically stable, or rich. Coming from a pretty limited neighborhood, my mother had raised me to think about my "needs" instead of "wants" in order to make ends meet. It's not like I was ever homeless or went without food, but socially I was considered "poor." I had friends that got computers, toys, and "everything they/I wanted" for birthdays and Chrismas' and thankfully, I was only happy for them because :at least I had what I needed. Other people in my situation didn't think that and I would often hear things like, "Rich people should pay more taxes," "Rich people should give more money," etc. I understand that may seem reasonable, but in a way it's unfair. I like thinking that rich people weren't always rich. I like thinking that they worked hard to become wealthy, took risks or something similar to get to where they are now. It could be that their wealth was given and passed to their families too. My point is that rich people most likely weren't at one point. They are also people too. They have feelings, families, and experience unfortunate events too. And if "money really is the root of evil," then shouldn't we be happy that we don't have as much money as the rich?
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting take on an overwhelmingly common assumption towards these individuals. We do tend to think that because they have all this money, what issues could they really have? They could pay someone to clean up the spilled milk, fix the flat tire, and bring in the new dryer when it needs fixed. But the author does a great job and realizing that these assumptions really are just assumptions. These individuals do face issues, it's just that so many of us may not be able to relate to those issues, so we don't see them as such. I completely agree that these individuals tend to be in a class of their own and when that happens, they will almost always struggle in areas that average individuals wont. As the author stated, we tend to have the support system and friendships we need to help us through tough times because we are able to relate to each other; these individuals however, do no always have this luxury. They are often very distant from others because so many people are already prejudging them. While I am able to see the vast number of upsides having a lot of money provides, it is also very important to realize that having that money will also lead to its own problems that will more than likely leave individuals alone to deal with.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting article and an interesting research they did as well. I agree that money can’t buy happiness. However, I actually expected a deeper explanation about how all those findings and psychological aspects relate to each other and have caused each other, and could lead to a conclusion that yes, money can’t buy happiness. Having read this article (just this article and its research result), I see that most of respondents’ responses are rooted to what I think, relationships. When they responded to why money was not always helpful, they said that they concerned about the way their children would be treated by others, they wondered if their children would know if people really loved them or their money. They worry about their kids’ relationships to others. When they were asked about their greatest aspiration in life, they said they wanted to be a good parent. When they were asked about their aspirations for the world, their answers were consistently on how to help the youth in the world live healthy, meaning, and impactful lives. Again, all are about relationships. Good relationships will satisfy their aspirations, and will erase worries. And they will feel happy.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, as the author mentioned in the last couple sections on this article: “One of those concerns is this feeling of isolation”; “But what you often lose when you have all this money is the friendships that support you through the difficult times.” That is true. However, the feeling of isolation does not come from outside, it comes from inside, from ourselves. We can “read” clearly from the respondents’ responses to the questionnaires how they are being isolated by their thought and by what they are doing: when they were asked how their money helped them to be a good parent, their answers were good schools, travel, security, varied experiences; all are material things and nothing is about strengthening their relationship with the kids. When they were asked about their greatest aspirations for their children, they isolated themselves by expressing “the world” as “their world”.
Isolation - that will ruin relationships. The ruined relationships will steal your happiness. So, if we have a lot money, why should we isolate ourselves from the world? That’s a natural process.. I think..… if we just go with the flow without adding effort from ourselves to prevent being isolated, we will end up in an isolated world. Money can buy happiness, if we can keep maintaining our rewarding relationships with others. Money can buy happiness even more…if we can use the money to extend our rewarding relationships to more people in this world. Yes, that’s not an easy thing to do.
The point made by the author, as I understood it, was that money does not buy happiness or solutions, but it does buy jealousy and hatred from others. I believe that money helps to solve financial situations for a lot of people, but even when all of those financial debts and needs are covered, it doesn't mean people are happy. Also, it doesn't matter how much money someone has we are all going to die and money cannot buy life. Life is the most precious thing we can have, and money cannot buy it. Therefore, rich or poor we are all going to end in the same place. After reading this article, I rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author, Amy Novotney on Money cannot buy happiness. Money can only buy so much happiness until one runs out of things to do or buy. Reading the article, the people with money were most concerned with their children and having them live a great life. This great life didn’t necessarily consist of having their children be rich and be wealthy, but rather for their children to live a good life and make it meaningful to them. Money makes the world go around, but what people don’t know is that money can also cause issues. There are issues that occur when one’s socioeconomic status is believed to be inferior to another’s. Therefore, people are labeled as snobby, stuck up, and/or spoiled if they come from a wealthy family. This can make it difficult for people to be more social with others, and gain genuine friendships. In the article, Novotney states that often time’s, people end up with too much temporal freedom that individuals then don’t know what to do because they have so many choices and can get whatever they want. This can lead to trouble, such as experimenting with drugs. Often times we hear of wealthy people getting into drugs and having unlimited supply, that sometimes people get so caught up in them, that they suffer from addiction. I believe happiness comes from love and compassion from human interaction. Furthermore, when individuals are able to build significant relationships with other individuals, I believe that is when life becomes beautiful and meaningful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amy Novotney. Living in a capitalistic world we assume that money is the answer to all our problems,as the author points out, we believe that not having to worry about mortgages or expenses will make us happy. Every person in America dreams about winning the lotto or making it big because that means that their worries will be gone but as this study shows, money does not buy happiness. It is a form of making life easier but it leaves you with an emptiness and insecurities. People with such vast amounts of wealth will never truly be sure who loves them for them or who truly cares for them. This ultimately will make them feel lonely and they will turn to drugs or reckless behavior. The public has seen this happen countless of times with the actors, singers, and sports stars. For example Michael Jackson,a millionaire and famous singer, who was suppose to be happy by our standards but ultimately lost his life to drugs.He had it all but at the same time had nothing. In the end happiness is not tied to wealth, its tied to sharing meaningful experiences with other individuals.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that people assume that the wealthy have everything. I would love to win the lottery and not have to worry about bills and having to cut down on expenses, but not at the expense of losing my true friends or losing time with my family. This article helped me understand that even the wealthy have fears and concerns. Everyone has emotional fears and that is something money could never truly fix.
DeleteIt is rather disconcerting that people feel the “wealthy” have the best of it all. The author dives into how many wealthy people have too much freedom, or the fear that their children will grow to be lonely or taken advantage of. These are all true problems that the wealthy probably deal with, however it is not as if the wealthy of this world chose not to be wealthy. Clearly those people either 1., chose to work hard to get their current financial status, or 2., they were birthed into the status they hold. Trust funds and pampered children are something the wealthy struggle with, however they choose to continue that status. I do not necessarily agree with this issue of too much freedom, perhaps because I do not have the wealth of these individuals surveyed. I enjoy having a sense of purpose in the world. If I had an upward of $25 million my work would still continue. I would continue to work with the people and gain a sense of importance on my own accord. Money comes and goes and it does not go with you when you die. Everyone has their own issues, and no matter what you physically have, you will always have problems. The way the problems stem just change with the type of person you are.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with author, Amy Novotney. Wealth and money will never be able to buy happiness. Though, Money does help keep a roof over your head and food in your the stomach but it does not help you with a drug addiction. The reason we believe that people with money have happy lives is because the way media portrays them. We do not see what happens behind the curtain. I think families with endless of moneys can have happy lives to but they must learn how to handle problems and issues that come their way. Ultimately, happiness is a state of mind, the poorest family in the world can achieve happiness as well as the richest family. I believe the only thing that is evil about so much money is the problems it can create, like for example Isolation. The author states that the number one concern with wealthy families is the feeling of isolation, and the higher the wealth, the worse it gets.That amount of money can cause you distant your selves from friends and family. In the end, Money is not everything but it is fun to have. Give me 25 million and i will guarantee you that I would be the happiest person in the world ;) lol
ReplyDeleteIt really shocked and surprised to me to read the responses they had got from the survey. I had expected reading different responses, but that proves that I even believed the stereotype and was quick to judge. It just shows we need to have more faith in humanity and that not all the higher class people are selfish and self-centered. I'm very excited to read those responses because I'm happy to hear they don't want their children to be stereotyped and judged by their peers, they care about what their children can do for this world and their communities, they care about their children's goals and aspirations. Most of all, they want to succeed at being a good parent and teaching their children good morals. My concern with children growing up in wealthier families was that they were going to grow up only caring about the money and nothing else. I realized much with this article and have faith in humanity.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It really gave me a different idea of how the wealthy can be. I could understand their concern for their children because they would truly never know who their true friends were. Also the part where it said that their children could obtain drugs more easily even worried me. People do assume that the wealthy have it easy, but they have troubles and worries like everyone else.
DeleteI can see why the author wrote this article. People assume that because some people have a lot of money that they have no worries. They may be financially safe and have all the things they want in life but that doesn't mean they have what they need. Sure, they have a sense of security, but they will always have worries and fears like everyone. This article had me thinking about how they fear for their children's mentality and how they would be emotionally affected. My parents are not multimillionaires but they are upper middle class citizens. Growing up, my siblings and I had everything we needed to live a comfortable life and even got things that we simply wanted. It was tough being seen as spoiled and not knowing if you had true friends, or if they were just hanging out with you for the benefits and things you had. I admit I took advantage of my parents and in doing so I began to ditch college courses to go hang out with the wrong crowd and partied most of the week. I rarely saw my family because I was always driving around or staying at friends houses. I had no inclination of how my parents were feeling or had any respect for their emotions. I only thought of myself and wanting to give my friends a good time. Money has a way of making people selfish and care-free. Humanity is no longer about being humane or caring, but about greed and material goods. Now that I am older and more focused on my schooling and career path, I cleaned up my act and have a more independent outlook on the world. I want to be able to make a positive difference for the world. I had to realize that I will not always have my parents there to take care of me and that I will have to be the one that takes care of myself and others. When you depend on money and materials, you begin to assume that's what you have to have in this world. Today, I never have more than a couple hundred dollars in the bank and have to make cuts in my life to be able to pay bills, but I couldn't be happier because I am able to spend more time with my family and true friends who have stayed by my side throughout the good and bad times. The little moments in life are more important than any amount of money.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author as well, money can not buy happiness. It is not written in stone, that if a person is rich he or she will be fit mentally and physically. Having loads of money does not guarantee that a person will be happy in his or her family, have high self-esteem, and be at peace psychologically. From a physical stand point, there are many wealthy individuals who suffer from diseases or conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Achieving happiness is a skill of the mind, internally a person needs to find peace within him or herself before he/she could admire the existing surroundings that exists around him/her. To put it short in a broader sense, things are what your mind perceive them to be.
ReplyDeleteBeing wealthy certainly helps in the financial aspect of life, but it does not help at a great deal with mental stability, or becoming a caring human being for the society and family. There are individuals that are not rich, but they still manage to have a positive attitude, love their family, be physically healthy, and love themselves. I believe that if a person is not humble to him/herself and others, then acquiring more and more wealth makes them take people and things for granted. I am not saying every wealthy person is this way, but quite a few many are in today’s society. If being wealthy was a requisite to obtaining all the happiness in the world, then I guess no middle or low income person would be seen enjoying life for what it is.
I agree with the author. Just because you are rich, it definitely does not mean you are happy. Money can buy you all of the fancy and luxurious material items you want but it can never give you the love, warmth and peace we all need as human beings. Money can never satisfy you or fulfil your longings for companionship. Life will come with struggles, no matter how much money you make. I also agree with what the author mentioned about how many of the people interviewed, said they were more concerned about their children leading a meaningful life rather than just making a lot of money. I can imagine that as a parent you would want to feel proud of your children and you would want them to do something that is beneficial to life and to other people. I wonder if kids who come from rich families want the same things for themselves as their parents want for them. I would think that the kids would be more into having flashy cars and clothes than doing something that could better their community. I could always be wrong though; I could be basing this assumption off of the typical stereotypes of rich people,
ReplyDeleteThe author makes the point that being wealthy doesn't bring happiness in itself, which is a point I wholly agree with. It would seem that money tends to bring more problems in regards to social situations rather than stressful financial situations. I have the unfortunate luxury of being related to a sibling who takes money as her life and everything else is second rate. While she was "blessed" with living with my rich father, I chose to live with my mother, who is financially less so and I think I have a better respect for what money and happiness are and how they are related, but do not need to be intertwined.
ReplyDelete