The Relationship Between Money And Happiness Philosophy Essay

The Relationship Between Money And Happiness Philosophy Essay In todays world without exception everyone wants a happy and fulfilling life. The people around us, the society which we belong and even media tells us daily that the only way to reach a happy and fulfilling life is to have a higher income. But, is it true? Firstly we have to examine the meaning of happiness. Most commonly, happiness is known as a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. For years, a great amount of researches have been done to answer this question. In this investigation, while some of researchers are supporting that attaining wealth and possessions is good for us, on the other hand some people are saying it is not. For example, In The High Price Of Materialism Tim Kasser says, No matter how many fancy designer clothes, cars, or jewels they might obtain, no matter how big their house or how up-to-date their electronic equipment, the lost opportunity to engage in pleasurable activities and enjoy each others companion ship will work against need satisfaction, and thus against their happiness. Annie Leonard also supports her idea through her video about consumerism and happiness. In this video the most important thing missed is people and their satisfaction. And again Juliet Schor claims that with statics National income has been rising for the last 20 years, but measures of the quality of life and happiness have fallen. Although all of these statements prove that happiness doesnt come from wealth and possessions, according to Peter Saunders Why Capitalism is Good for The soul, In some companies when workers start to get more profit, it results in higher living standards for workers as well as cheaper and more plentiful goods and services. And this improvement leads to a good life for workers. Although without money and wealth life seems difficult, too much focusing on the possessions affects our mental health, self-control and satisfaction badly as well as damages our relationships and lead to un happiness. Happiness is the most valuable aim of human being. While the earth is getting complicated and changing day by day, almost all people are trying to have a happy and fulfilling life. During this pursuit of happiness, our relationships play a crucial role. In pace of life, when we have encountered with some stressful or disappointing situation or cases, in order to take a breath we always consult our families and fly into our familys arms. If we have our own families and their real support, it is the most reliable way to reach the happiness and relief. But sometimes people can be in a dilemma between possessions and relationships. This is the point of collapsing real happiness, because when the passion of money comes to a person, he starts to abandon his family. He thinks as if money will bring them happiness and good life. But it wont. As Tim Kasser says in the article of Mixed Messages a focus on materialistic values detracts from well-being and happiness. For example when spouses spe nd most of their time working to make money, they neglect opportunities to be with each other and do what most interests them. And again in Downshifting in Britain Difficulties in managing work-life balance can have a detrimental impact on the quality of the relationships between parents and children and the parents responsiveness to the child, with implications for child outcomes. This is particularly important for every young children, with evidence suggesting that it is best for children if they can receive intensive parental contact for the first months(HM Treasury DTI 2003, p 13-14). As you can see in these sentences as long as people dont allocate enough time for their families, there is no way to make them happy. The same situation is also acceptable for peoples friends. Friends are known as a second family; even for some people they are the first. A friend can help us in every tough situation, they can back up us in everywhere. So always we want to have a good friend. If we select and take care of our friends carefully, as well as we have to be careful to maintain our relationships with them. The money, possessions, wealth shouldnt be our friends. While we are establishing a friendship, it mustnt be based on materialistic values or we mustnt let money to interfere our friendship. When money comes, it might hurt our friends and us. Furthermore, if we look at the richest people in the world, we see that the loneliest people are these rich people because of money. According to lots of people, money means high status, greedy and responsibility. With these prejudices, rich people cannot make friends easily, by this way they cant be happy. We associate this situation with food pyramid, if assume t hat there are richest people at the top of chain, and the chain is getting narrowed with the rate of friends, so if we are at the top of the pyramid we wont have friends who makes us more and more happy. To give an example, John Jacob Astor 3 bemoans, money brings me nothing but a certain dull anxiety. So even if you have too much money to spend, as long as you dont have friends and family you cant be happy. The other most important step to reach the happiness is our satisfaction. Because actually the money doesnt make us happy, it can help us just by providing some satisfaction. When we lost our satisfaction, it means we lost our happiness and this is exactly what our possessions do. Lots of people in consumer countries and societies think that they always need more money than they have now, even if they are wealthy and rich people. In the book of Clive Hamilton, this situation is stated with this sentence: The trouble with the rat race is, even if you win, you are still a rat. Because of the society that they belong to, they are convinced that more money means always more happiness. So without exception all people are trying to have more possessions to be satisfied by being able to buy what they need. But there is an insidious fact they always forget, and it is that at the same time they are raising their threshold of sufficiency, and decreasing their rate of happiness. The answer of h ow they can raise their threshold is meanwhile their needs change as incomes rise. While this is being happened, usually most of people are unaware of this situation. So no matter how they are wealthy, unconsciously it is working against their satisfaction and happiness. According to the Affluenza, studies shows that most people would prefer an income of $50 000 if the average is $40 000 to an income of $70 000 if the average is $100 000, that is, most people would rather be poorer, provided others are poorer still. Moreover, in late 2002 when a newspoll survey asked Australian people (richest) whether they can afford to buy everything they need, the answer investigators got is that sixty-two per cent of Australians believe they cannot afford to buy everything they need. If we consider Australia is one of the richest countries, it is a really good example of dissatisfaction and rat race. Self-control is the ability to control ones emotions, behaviors and desires or is the capacity of efficient management to the future, in this process without any control mechanism is it possible to have a good life or live peaceful. Of course NO, because the failure of self-control can cause immense personal and societal repercussions on people. So in this world everyone has to have self- control to handle with obstacles and bad effects of our environment but our possessions are such a dreadful nightmare for self-control that when we look at the whole world suffering of lack of self-control results from more money people have. Because as long as you have more money your ability to prevent yourself from doing something false is getting weaken. For example, using of drugs are known as a way of escaping from stress and most of people dont use it thanks to their self-control because they can see the results of this addiction after usage, but if there is a person who is rich and cannot be happy no longer with his possessions, due to dissatisfaction his/her self-control couldnt work. And at this point he/she lose themselves in drugs and also their happiness lose in it. Beside their happiness their physical health also can be harmed like the brain, heart, and other important organs. We can give more general examples to this case like consumption and credit card debts. If you dont have more money, by fear of debts and overconsumption while you are buying something or spending your money you try to be careful because you can imagine the results of overconsumption thanks to your self- control, but when you lose it, you plunge into debts immediately. So without the self-control we cannot be happy because it is most effective way to be careful about the harmful things. And money is the main enemy of the self-control. On the contrary there is some people claim that money can buy happiness with its benefits in terms of providing higher living standards. Peter Saunders stated that when workers start to get more profit, it results in higher living standards for workers as well as cheaper and more plentiful goods and services. And this improvement leads to a good life for workers. Yes until a certain limit it is true because this world which has capitalist system is not suitable for living without money. Because money provides you necessities like shelter, education, health etc. Furthermore if you have a family, without a good income you cant imagine a good life while you are trying to be alive in this world. But when you have enough money and you are able to supply what you need, after this point moneys importance suddenly decrease and remains only one way to be happy which is not money, just our relationships and our health. According to the Journal of Happiness Studies by Fischer, Claude S. Although Americans wealth increased substantially over the last few decades, their happiness did not. Because as I said before this is not the case of money after a certain point. So no matter without enough money we cannot be happy, it doesnt mean happy comes from wealth and possessions. To conclude, if you have enough money for your basic necessities, after that happiness doesnt come from money. On the contrary, as long as you have a great amount of money or try to have more money than you have, in the pursuit of wealth and possessions you can lose your most important relationships with your friends and family which make you really happy, furthermore your mental and physical health can be affected very badly because of dissatisfaction and lack of self control. Briefly attaining wealth is not essential for our fulfillment even it is against. Work Cited (HM Treasury DTI 2003, p 13-14). The high price of materialism / Mixed Massages By Tim Kasser Why Capitalism is good for the soul By Peter Saunders Journal of Happiness Studies by Fischer,

Where Are The Americans?

In spite of the fact that the American Government Led NATO against Serbia and that the American military is here, and their largest military base outside the United States is in Kosova, Kosovars are still asking: â€Å"Where Are The Americans? † Of course, a more complete elaboration on the basic question is: â€Å"Where Are The Americans? Why aren't Americans supporting our full Independence? Why hasn't their government recognized the full Independence of Kosova? Why aren't the big American corporations coming to Kosova? Why do they let the EU run everything in Kosova? Why isn't an American the Special Representative to the Secretary-General of the UN in Kosova? They went against European opposition and convinced NATO to go to war against Serbia and liberate us from oppression, but where are the Americans now? † Certainly the Americans are here, but the answer to many of the questions rests with the Kosova people, and the politics of Europe. Kosova is in Europe, and it is only natural that the European Community has the central concern and input regarding the status of Kosova. Under the current circumstances, any proclamations by the United States would be viewed as interfering with the European Union, and this would be diplomatically improper. Currently, the official communications regarding the situation in Kosova, and the issue of â€Å"final status† is limited to UNMIK and the European Union, as these are the entities that have UN delegated responsibilities regarding Kosova. The Americans are stronger in their influence within KFOR, which is separate from UNMIK Administration. However, when Kosovars clearly declare their Independence from Serbia, and demand that the UN fulfill its obligations in accordance with 1244(1999) for Kosova to have: â€Å".. provisional democratic self-governing institutions to ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo. † Then, and only then, can the United States and other nations respond to a direct request by Kosovars for support in the establishment of an independent democratic process within Kosova! The Americans and others would then be able to question the EU more directly, as to why the European Union is against the full Independence of Kosova, when the history of the Serbians has been one of repeated aggressions, and an absence of any remorse. It is a logical question to ask, why after so many conflicts and so many losses by the Serbs, does the European Union continue to appease Serbia, rather than imposing harsh consequences? We must learn the process of politics and diplomacy. We have been great leaders and warriors, but we must not forget that we have never had a leader in peace. We are physically and morally strong, we are intelligent but we are not experienced in politics and diplomacy. However, we cannot let this situation continue, and we must now use any and all means to become as effective in Politics and Diplomacy as we have been in war. Kosova's political leaders have been active, but we must accept the reality of Kosovar limitations and ensure that all leaders quickly become truly adept in politics and diplomacy. Another response to â€Å"Where Are The Americans† is that the American people are at home in the United States, working, playing, studying, watching Television, listening to the radio, reading newspapers; and all of these things are being done in English. It is true that there are a few thousand Americans who speak Albanian, but how many are in positions of authority and how many are actually doing anything effective to bring the â€Å"message† the â€Å"truth† about Kosova to the American people? How can the average American care about Kosova, if they know nothing about Kosova? Americans are paying close attention to world events, such as the terror threats and the issue with Iraq, and they are paying attention because they are being communicated to in English. Why should American journalists pay attention to Kosova when anything of importance has to be translated from Albanian to English by them? We speak out, and demonstrate, but nothing is said or written in English. If we want to get Americans interested in Kosova, we must speak and publish in the English language in addition to Albanian. Every key speech given; every key event; every meeting attended must be also presented in English. Our daily newspapers should have at least one page in English presenting all the headlines and a brief about the story, and our television news and key presentations must also be done in English. If we want people to listen to us, then we better speak their language! Our periodicals should contain English features, and every major press release by any organization of influence should be prepared in good English. This last statement is important, for if we present English copy that is poorly done, we will look uneducated in the eyes of those reading the material. In the few instances when our business and/or government organizations have provided English versions, they appear to the reader as having been done by a child just learning to speak and write in English. We must utilize the skills of professional translators in any and all areas that affect our future, especially if we wish to reach and involve the American people. We certainly do not provide a good image if we cannot express crucial issues in good English to the world. In business and politics, it is the English language that predominates, and we better catch up fast! Just about every adult Kosovar knows that the European Union is â€Å"concerned† about the unification of ethnic Albanians; the development of a Kosovar military; and the potential for a significant American business, monetary and political influence in the Balkans. But as long as We Kosovars remain silent in English, and the citizens of America remain ignorant of the truth, the EU has nothing to worry about. In the eyes and minds of Americans, it appears that â€Å"everything is OK† in Kosova, and they believe that if everything is going well, why should Americans continue to support the American Military being in Kosova? Americans believe: If â€Å"everything is OK,† let Europe bear the costs of taking care of Kosova and we can move our troops to where they are needed! American politicians respond to the will of the American people, and Kosova politicians and the Kosovar people need to recognize this fact and reach out to the Heart of the United States, the American people! We must have the courage to make strong and timely Diplomatic moves, such as the publicly restating our Independence, and request direct assistance from particular nations in order to counter the current negative intent and actions of the European Union and Serbia to keep us within and under Serbian Dominance. We Kosovars need to â€Å"wake up, and stand up† and speak out, in a loud, firm, clear and unified English Speaking voice, against the effective Serbian Propaganda, The Manipulation of The Hague, and the Appeasement efforts of the European Union. They are making their propaganda in English, and it must be countered in English!

Hedda Gabler Essay

In the beginning when the reader meets Hedda Gabler, one can see how she is quite a high maintenance character by how she complains that the maid has† opened the door. I’m drowning in all this sunlight. † (Ibsen 1469). Exerting her power over her husband, George Tesman, she demands him to close the curtains, which he does complacently. Later Hedda notices an old hat lying on the chair and worries that someone may have seen it. When she learns that the hat belongs to Miss Tesman, George’s dear aunt, she does not apologize for her comment which shows her tendency to belittle others, even if they are family. Hedda utters to her husband, â€Å"But where did she get her manners, flinging her hat around any way she likes here in the drawing room. People just don’t act that way. † (1418). The author depicts Hedda as a neurotic woman who criticizes the actions of others in an attempt to demonstrate her self- imposed superiority over others. Her pretentious comment introduces the theme of a high and mighty character, which readers will begin to hate, who eventually succumbs to the pressure of appearing perfect in society. In the scene where George and Hedda receive news that Mrs. Elvsted, an â€Å"old flame† of Tesman, will be visiting, Hedda remembers her as the one with â€Å"that irritating hair she’d always be fussing with† (1418). By this remark, the reader can predict that Hedda, very jealous of Mrs. Elvsted, will attempt to flaunt her superiority over her throughout the rest of the play. Once Mrs. Elvsted arrives, and she and Hedda are alone they chat about a variety of topics: marriage, love, and most importantly, a man named Eilert Lovborg, with whom Mrs. Elvsted is in love. Admitting her feelings of loneliness in her marriage, Mrs.  Elvsted strives to justify her relationship with Lovborg and mentions how happy he makes her when he allows her to help him write, as he is a published author. However, Mrs. Elvsted is unsure of the future of their relationship because â€Å"the shadow of a woman† stands between them. This unidentified woman was going to shoot Lovborg when they broke up. As Hedda learns of this, she comments, â€Å"That’s nonsense. People just don’t act that way here. † (1424). Yet, an astute reader can tell that Hedda is hiding something: she was, in fact, the woman who had previously tried to shoot Lovborg. Ibsen does this to show that Hedda acts in a manner that contradicts her snooty statements. Later in the play when Lovborg visits Hedda, he confronts her by asking why she married George because it is apparent that she does not love him. Then he inquires if she ever loved him while the two had previously been in a relationship, and he reminisced about how he confessed so many secrets to her. â€Å"Ah, Hedda, what kind of power was in you that drew these confessions out of me? † (1440) he asked. Mischievously, she responds, â€Å"You think it was a power in me? (1440). All the while, Hedda takes pleasure in knowing that she can control others by exerting her power over them. Deeper into their conversation, the reader learns that when the two enjoyed a secret friendship, Hedda had threatened to shoot Lovborg, but she did not because she feared the scandal it would have caused. Once again, Hedda proves to be overly concerned of what society thinks. On the outside, she appears to fit the mold of how a woman in society should behave; yet, internally, she struggles with a predisposition to act in a contradicting manner of what society regards as acceptable behavior. She is propelled by this internal conflict during the entire play. Earlier in the play, the reader inferred that Hedda envies Mrs. Elvsted because of her relationship with Lovborg; therefore, the reader expects to see Hedda parade her superiority over Mrs. Elvsted. True to her character, Hedda rips out the pages in Lovborg’s manuscript, which Mrs. Elvsted helped him write, and throws them into the stove. Crazed, Hedda exclaims, â€Å"I’m burning your child, Thea! You with your curly hair! Your child and Eilert Lovborg’s. I’m burning it! I’m burning your child† (Ibsen 1456). Right before this manic event, Hedda urges Lovborg to commit suicide, gives him one of her pistols, and expresses her desire for him to do it â€Å"in beauty† (1456). Once she persuades Lovborg to commit suicide, Hedda can no longer suppress her internal conflicts and shoots herself in the head. The reader can assume that Hedda commits suicide beautifully, as she hoped Lovborg would do. Her motto of â€Å"people just don’t act that way,† proves to be false because her actions are exactly what she says people do not do. Throughout Hedda Gabler, the main character possesses much contempt for her husband, insults others, and resents a former acquaintance. Despite her concern with society’s opinion of her, she feels trapped within society’s standards to act a certain way. Yet, in doing so, she becomes dejected from others and society as a whole. Repeatedly, she uses the following phrase: â€Å"People just don’t act that way,† in an attempt to suppress her internal desires to be like one of those people. By the end, Hedda cannot live torn between two different realities; she chooses to behave like one of those people, and she commits suicide- in beauty, of course.

Essay Personal Interest - 2378 Words

Personal Interest I have been interested in the study of shy children and their inability to actively participate in a classroom environment since my youngest daughter, who is extremely shy, started kindergarten. I saw the difficulty that she faced in class because of her shyness and I became frustrated because I knew that her lack of self-confidence was affecting her ability to excel in school. Fortunately, we were able to work with her teachers and help her develop the self-confidence to eventually become an excellent student who is an active participant in her class. Because of my experience as a parent, I am very aware of the potential to overlook or mislabel shy students and have found myself†¦show more content†¦When called on in front of the class to answer a question, she would blush and stammer out an answer which often was incorrect. However, when she was questioned privately by the teacher, she was able to answer the same question correctly. During group activities, this student would be observed sitting on the edge of the group not participating. She had a great deal of difficulty talking in large groups; however, she was able to participate when working in a small group or with another student. She was well liked by her classmates and had many friends in the class. However, her shyness was having an adverse affect on her performance in the classroom. I felt that she was a good candidate to work with because she had noted several times to the teacher that it made her â€Å"nervous† to talk in front of t he class. For the purposes of this paper, she will be referred to as â€Å"Molly†. Literature Review There is a good deal of research written about children and shyness but the majority of it is geared towards parents. After much searching, I was able to find literature that linked shyness and education. All of my research comes from a variety of articles that I found on the internet. 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