Money doesn’t buy you happiness – my counter-argument
I’ve had countless discussions with people with money and
they always say “money doesn’t buy happiness”. It’s something I’ve heard all my
life and it’s definitely not a revelation. Of course money doesn’t buy you
happiness! But the rich bemoan as if it’s the one thing that they can that they
can complain about; that their lives aren’t filled with happiness because of
money.
Basically, the argument is that even though the rich grew up
with money, it doesn’t mean they had a happy childhood. And they’ve seen that
poor people are much richer in terms of the friends and family that they have. This
opinion piece is why I think their argument is flawed.
We all have our problems and while money does not solve all
of them, it does make things easier. Here’s an example. Person A professes to
have daddy issues because daddy was never around because he was too busy making
more money. Person B also has daddy issues because daddy was never around
because he was too busy working a menial job in order to put food on the table.
In both cases, they weren’t happy. But Person A got to be
more technologically advanced, got a better education and got the advantage of a
head start in life because of money. Person B followed in his parents’ paths in
life and struggled to make ends meet. Yes, in both cases the individuals weren’t
happy but didn’t money in this example make life just a little bit easier.
There are a lot of reasons for unhappiness: poor health, the
inability to make ends meet, suffering of loved ones – these are things that
afflict both the rich and the poor. Money solves these problems or makes them a
little easier.
And granted there are
sources of unhappiness that can’t be solved with money like the search for a soul
mate or being in a job you hate. Again these things affect both the rich and
the poor and money will probably be of little help here.
Then there’s the theory that poor people are rich in family
who love each other. What bullshit! Not having money is extremely stressful. It’s
the source of many fights between couples. When you need to make sure that the basics
like food, healthcare and school fees are covered when you’re in a minimum wage
job; it’s certainly not a happy place to be in. And even if you’re lucky enough
to be surrounded by love and family, it still doesn’t mean you’re happy.
So to the rich people out there, the poor don’t have the
upper hand at happiness. Let’s level the monetary playing field first and then
we can all bemoan about how our money doesn’t make us happy. Don’t believe me?
Get rid of all your money and prove me wrong. Go be happy.
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2 comments
This is such is a great view... Just to add to your views, rich people must learn to be content. I think there's a huge difference between being happy and being content. From many of my personal experiences I've found that happiest of people don't always necessarily have everything they want, but they learn to make the best of every situation. This is where I find rich people get jealous. Poor/middle-class people may not have everything, but they learn to make the best of everything they have.
ReplyDeleteAgain, my personal view and experience, poorer people / middle-class people's children are often more hard-working and ambitious than rich people's children. I'm not saying all, but most of the time. Eg) Poorer people / middle-class can't afford for their kid to fail at varsity. It's already costing them a fortune just to send their kid to varsity.
Just my views :) thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing. I totally agree from my experience on the varying degrees of hard work and ambition people have based on their financial background
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