Money_and_Happiness

Travis Ray Mrs. M. Arenson English 110 3 December, 2010 Can Money Buy Happiness' A quick stroll down the hallway of any public school reveals where happiness truly lays, money. Sadness and anguish can be seen on the faces of students who cannot be considered upper class because of their family income. Never is the class system more prevalent than in the classroom. Children and young adults may range in ages, but they all have to have the latest in high tech gear and high price fashion. Without this they may be humiliated by the repressive bullying that inhabits the hallways. The influences for this fashion and high price living comes from the entertainment industry. Everyday a famous actor or actress graces the TV with their magnificent presence of the latest fashion and expensive technology on the market. Absolute happiness is hard to find, but in the minds of many Americans having money is happiness. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but more exclusively money buys contentment. Some people compare contentment to happiness. They are two very similar feelings. Encarta Dictionary defines contentment as “the state of being satisfied with a person’s current state of being.”(Encarta) This means that contentment is a smaller form of happiness, more of happiness within a short period of time. Happiness, however, is “the sum of all events within a person’s life,” a sense of personal accomplishment (Encarta). Happiness is impossible to purchase no matter how much money a person has. Contentment on the other hand is quite easy to buy with any sum of money. Daniel Tosh, comedian, has supported this opinion with a famous joke he has about money and happiness. “They say money can’t buy happiness… Have you ever seen a person on a wave runner frowning' I don’t think so,” jokes Tosh. However funny this quote may be, it is true in the sense that right now while enjoying something that person spent his or her hard money on he or she is happy. Then the bills pile up and that feeling of being content is gone. Money has the ability to make a person happy for a short amount of time, also known as being content. A major problem within the educational system of America is the harassment many children face based on social status or wealth, this results in a desire for money to be content. One study asked a group of 1000 adolescents about them being bullied based on appearance, 75 percent claimed they had been bullied (BPS 1). This is a staggering percentage of kids. With bullying becoming the center of attention in schools, the implement of anti-bullying campaigns, like No Place for Hate, should be effective. Although many anti-bullying campaigns have been established, bullying still continues. The greatest percentage of bullying is based on appearance. The clothes someone wears is key to their place in the social structure of school. Many school districts like to believe that their school doesn’t have cliques, but cliques are present everywhere in school. The clique a person is in describes who that person is and what they like. A study found that the leading cause of bullying is certain uneasiness between different cliques (BPS 1). With bullying being more active now than ever before, teenage depression has risen. One of the leading causes of death amongst teenagers is suicide. The Centers for Disease control report that it is the third leading cause of death, behind accidents and homicide, of people aged 15 to 24. Even more disturbing is the fact that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14(TSS 2). With every swipe of a credit card at the latest fashion store a smile spreads across every kids face. This contentment won’t last long but it will earn the satisfaction he or she needs when they walk down the halls to the amazement of all the other kids. Nothing can do this better than money. Money is the main contributor to appearance, which is the main attribute to a successful high school career. A person’s appearance leads to the number and types of friends a student will have. Also appearance can boost a person’s confidence and self-esteem which leads to success. Although after spending money on the expensive clothes needed for that great appearance, the child’s parents may run into debt and other money problems leading to unhappiness in the home. The ability for a person to succeed in the job market depends on the way they look, this requires money. The first moments of an interview are the most crucial. From the handshake, to eye contact everything is important. The first 30 seconds can make or break a person’s opportunity to get a job. Most important however is how a person dresses. No employer wants to hire a deadbeat that can’t afford nice clothes to wear on the job. The ability to look nice is crucial to landing that dream job. A survey conducted showed that 55 percent of a person’s first impression is based on the clothes they wear (SRJA 2). Looking nice can’t be accomplished just by everyday shopping and budget spending. To achieve that perfect look a person must go out of their way to impress. This means high dollar clothes which require lots of money. Money can be the direct cause of a person not getting a job. When a person gets the job they’ve always wanted a sense of accomplishment comes over them. This will last until the first couple weeks then the stress will kick in and that small stint of contentment goes down the drain. The “American Dream” is the common goal for many poverty stricken Americans. Simply put, the American Dream is when a person works hard and overcomes any challenges they may face to achieve the one thing they have wanted all their lives. For people who are unfortunate enough to be below the poverty line, the ultimate goal is to earn money. The opportunity this country gives to its inhabitants to have success and achieve greatness, through programs such as Affirmative Action and Welfare, is more effective than any other country in the world. Now, more than ever before, there are outreach and charity organizations that benefit the downtrodden from any race or ethnicity. The success rate of poverty stricken kids in schools has risen in the last ten years (Spagnoli 3). This success is garnered from the drive to strike it rich in the world. When a kid grows up in a poverty stricken environment the only thing on their mind is to get out. Kids strive to do well in school and earn money so that they can go out and explore the world and make a name for themselves. This drive and success at the end of a long day’s work is known as the American Dream and there is nothing else like it. Every time that kid or adult opens his paycheck, and sees that dollar amount, a smile runs across his or her face, maybe even a tear of joy runs down their cheek. This smile is a sign of content, nothing else matters at that time except for the satisfaction of hard work paying off. The hard work that comes from a person striving to obtain a goal, and that goal is money. A person doesn’t get a job just to have a job, they get a job to make a living and support themselves through earning money. The idea that money can buy happiness isn’t true; however, the idea that money can buy contentment is true now more than ever. With today’s economy going down the drain, money has never been more important in peoples’ lives. Money plays one of the biggest influential roles in everyone’s lives. Money is influential because it dictates social class and makes a person strive to get better in every aspect of life. Whether a person is rich or poor the need for money and the content after earning this reward is high on a person’s list of goals. Money is the reason people get jobs and work hard at that job to support their family. Ultimate happiness is a person knowing their family is happy because of the hard earned money they bring home. Works Cited "Judging by Appearance." The British Psychological Society. N.p., 30 Jan 2010. Web. 5 Dec 2010. . "Teen Suicide Overview." Teen Suicide Statistics and Prevention. Suicide Prevention, 6 Mar 2008. Web. 5 Dec 2010. . Russo, Sabrina. "Job Interview Techniques." Sabrina Russo Job Access. N.p., 30 Oct 2007. Web. 5 Dec 2010. . Spagnoli, Filip. "Statistics on Poverty and Education." p.a.p.-blog|human rights etc.. N.p., 1 Apr 2008. Web. 5 Dec 2010. .