Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Money, money, money...


Please answer the following prompts in a detailed, fluent response. Make sure to comment on other people's views within your own response. Take your level of thinking higher. Make sure you are being thorough and honest.
What are your perceptions of material wealth/money?  Is it something your desire? What is "wealth"? Do we see too much excess today? Are we always wanting more? Do we "want" too much? Is being content or fulfilled enough? When is enough, enough? Is your financial status a reflection of how successful you are? What is success to you? (Remember that I am asking questions to challenge your thinking, you write what you desire).

32 comments:

  1. Personally, I think that money has both positive and negative effects and you have to be careful of which you are experiencing. Many times you can see how much someone is being consumed only by that which they believe is making them happy. Everyone desires to have this wealth, usually in different forms, but don't always know how, when or why they should be using it. If you use money as a means of escape or a way to lesson the burdens of your life, then you are using it for corrupted reasons and no matter how noble those reasons are, they will only bring distress. Just as well, people that view the amount of money they have as a form of personal wealth is lost, wealth should not be viewed so much as someones standing in our economic scale, but of the persons personality and characteristics. People that view this as their own form of wealth along with others, will always be on the move to better their selves, as people should, but on a path that leads ultimately to no where. The idea of success could be easily used as an example to this, if you view success at work, as the amount of money you are going to gain from a project, then you are not going to do the project as well as if you were doing it just for the self satisfaction that would come from it. Money that is used as a form of corruption is money not worth anything, but money that is used as a form of happiness, something that can be used to go and spend time with others, help the less fortunate, or anything like this, is money that is worth more than you can imagine. It is worth the gratitude of a mother without the means to feed her family, or a fathers that just thinks that dying is more worth it than going home to a disappointed family. This is what we should measure worth on, how we spent our lives, using the means that were given to us, for ourselves, or for others.

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  2. I think material items and money are things that teenagers take for granted. We usually get things from our parents and don't have to work for much. Wealth is something that I desire in my life but I want to work for it and have a job that I enjoy. Wealth can be different to many people. Some think wealth is money while others think you can be wealthy if you are happy in your life and have a lot of people who care about you. I think it is both. I do think that there is some excess with the material items we have today and we are always wanting more. Because we are always wanting more I don't even think that we are content with what we have. There is always something new that is advertised as better so we are eager to get it. I don't think financial status is all that has to do with success. Many jobs where people are helping others and doing everything they can for other people may not even get paid and if so they get paid very little, but I would consider them very successful because they are trying to improve lives with their spare time.

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    1. I couldn't agree more with you about how teenagers take materialistic items for granted. I see so many kids wanting more and more until they realize that they don't have any more wants left to choose from. It really makes me wonder what will happen in the future to these kids when their parents aren't supporting them and they have to wake up and smell the coffee and realize how lucky they really are.

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  3. Material wealth is having the newest phone, clothing, etc. out there. Its not always something we desire, per se. We want it, but for what? Sure, it has its uses, but your old phone still works, your old clothes are still useable, unless you had an awkward growth spurt. What we own reflects our social status too. I see excess today, all the kids having the new iPhone5 or the GalaxyS3.
    We always want more, ever since we were little toddlers, we would get bored of the new toys we got and we would want new ones. We are always wanting more, always. I don’t think there is an “enough”. For as long as new products keep coming out, we will keep striving to get it.

    Yes and no for financial status. Most are successful and they come from nothing, just hard work. But also yes, people with higher financial status has a head start I suppose. Its a bit easier to be successful compared to people who came from nothing, they had to work from scratch and probably try 10x harder.

    To me, success is an accomplishment, whether it is a big or a small one. Getting your first job, first paycheck, first day of high school, learning to walk, learning a new language, anything, is success.

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    1. Do you think that this is something that is making people greedy and ungrateful to what they have? i agree with what you have to say with how as kids start out getting some new toys to now when we expect to get the newest things it makes perfect sense.

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    2. I completely agree with your views, I also believe that we have always strived for more. It doesn't help that they're are new things coming out every day that we want. It doesn't help slow down the crave for the next best thing.

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  4. While becoming a young adult I have noticed that wealth has plenty of pros and cons. One pro is that you need money to survive in this world. People get money by working and that is where it can get a greedy. People think just because they make good money means that they are bigger and better than everyone else. I believe that money shouldn’t be a way to impress your true personality to others. A con to money is that when people have so much money they lose the true morals and values that go along with life because they think money is all that matters. I strongly believe that people are always wanting more than what they need. I see it every day while walking through the hallways which is just so sad that kids don’t understand and appreciate the true meaning of money. I also believe that money doesn’t measure how successful an individual is it’s your knowledge. People that don’t have a lot of money sometimes are the most successful people in this society. Also people financial status doesn’t reflect how successful you are. I feel that so many people try to weigh money as a way of viewing life of other people’s true personality. Success to me is content for sure because if you are happy with what you accomplished that is all that matters not what you didn’t finish. To me success is accomplishing your goals that you have set for yourself and enjoying life with what it gives you to handle.
    Why does money have measured to have success or happiness?

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    1. I agree, people become greedy for money and that's what shaping people these days. I feel like money has an impact on people and they only become worse and worse. Kids these days take things for granted and don't truly understand the meaning of happiness because they think it involves money. Where does happiness even come from?

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  5. I feel that there’re are some people that feel like they need the newest things and that makes them feel great but I think that we take these thing for granted I don’t think we appreciate what we have. I see people in the hall and there taking about there new phones, clothing, and car but I don’t ever hear what they donated or shared she people can be so greedy. I think that wealth is has two meaning to one is the money and get what ever you want but the second is the wealth of having the things you need. I know I personally thing that I have a lot of wants but that is also my desire for things and most of the times I feel really greedy and bad for wanting so much but I also feel that we want the newest thing because the world keeps coming up with new things and causing us to want to have that new thing. I do think that people see success in how much money they have. Success to me is how much we know but at the same time I know that I want to be successful and to have health and wealth so I’m not any better than anyone else.

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  6. The modern world has created a life that that requires the use of money to create a stable lifestyle. Money is obtained in so many different ways that it is not possible to compare people by means of their money. Personality and character cannot be told by the amount of money that one person has, neither can their success. A person who gains money through inheritance may not have to any work to become wealthy in which case they may have never achieved true success or any accomplishment in their life. I think success should be based on the achievements you have made in your own life and society. Your ability to accomplish goals should be the true measure of your success. However, success cannot be achieved without failure at some point. A person who gets money and an easy life handed to them never experiences failure, so therefore they can never experience success.
    People always want more. Karrie describes this by stating people are always wanting more than what they need and that people, especially teens, don’t know the real value of money. When described in this way wanting more is a negative thing, but on the other side wanting more can push people to do more. The people who don’t want more stay content with what they have, which for some people is never enough. Wanting more means people are never satisfied where they are and that they are always striving for greater things. However, this attitude can often come across as greedy. The concept of wanting more creates a fine line between being determined and being greedy.
    There is no escaping the fact that money is a part of everyone’s lives. It is how you define yourself without the money that determines your character, personality, and success. Money should just be a small object in peoples' lives, it should never be used as something to lean on.

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  7. It seems to me everything is revolved around money these days. That we want the things we don't need, and fulfillment only comes temporarily until we see more of what we think we need to have. We buy things we don't need to simply please and impress others, for what? I don't understand why we can't just have what we need and be happy. A desire for wealth controls many peoples aspirations but they need to know that life isn't to fulfill desire. I know people who have gone into careers simply to know they will have lots of money later in life- but they're miserable because they don't love what they're doing. I have learned to only spend on the things I need, because it is my hard earned money I am careful with. I don't desire to have "stuff" any more. Enough is enough when you've finally been consumed with the idea of money moving you through life. And eventually an emptiness forms and you don't realize why you feel that way. When a person has based all decisions on money it has gone too far. They've lost who we truly are.
    We think of wealth as people who have everything you could think of, all the clothes in the world, the nicest house, and plenty of money to do whatever you'd like. But there is another kind of wealth that comes from the substance within. A great person with plenty of positive characteristics, a person you want to be around after getting to know them. Those people have an inner wealth, because they contain something inside that is purely good.

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  8. To me wealth is not something I desire. The one thing I desire is to make enough so that I can live without being homeless. The fact of the matter is in today's world people are wanting more and more and in fact they are wanting things they cant get but on credit causing our economy to suffer. Your financial status is not a reflection of how successful you are. what makes you successful is what you do in the world and make the best of your life. To me success is joining the military and becoming a CSO or a Pilot. The military does not bring in much wealth but i will still be successful because i am accomplishing my goals that i have set for my life.

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    1. I completely agree with this. Success truly comes when the dreamer has finally accomplished what they wish to do. Whether that be a vet, or a doctor, or even a military man!

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    2. I completely agree with your views, I believe that making an impact on the world is a true testimony to how successful you are as a person. Also, just doing whatever pleases you makes you courageous for not giving up.

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  9. The perceptions of material money is having the newest thing and something that teenagers take for granted. My life doesn't resolve around money, yeah it's a necessity that we need to survive but I only desire enough to keep me going. My wealth is my family and friends. My wealth is what I make of the world and how I live my life. Money doesn't buy happiness it's the memories that do. I believe that we do see too much excess today. People are desperate to have enough money, people are desperate to whatever it takes to be able to say that they have a lot of money. Once you have something you only want and I think people with money is the exact same thing. Once you start with a little you only want more and more and you'll do whatever it takes until you have enough. You can never want to much it's that you don't need that much. We go through life only needing more and more than what we already have. When is it going to be that we don't need everything? Success to me is how we live life and what we do with our lives. It's the little things in life that keep life fun and unforgettable. Success isn't about money or having the biggest thing it's about being who you are and accomplishing your goals in life.

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    1. I think accomplishing your own goals is a good point because in todays society, the idea that some jobs create more money makes people turn down a job they would have loved just to be rich, and I think a big part of being happy is setting the goals YOU want and achieving them.

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  10. Unfortunately, money is necessary to survival, and has come to drive many american's dreams. I find this saddening. I think that it is important to pay for a house, food, and other living expenses. That is the minimum amount that anyone should earn is enough to live. On top of that, the rest is luxury. Travelling, shopping, and other frivolous expenditures are unnecessary, but fun. And that is why we do what we do, is to enjoy life, and to make the best of our short time here on this Earth. I don't have a problem with this way of thinking, but I believe that many people are too obsessive about money. There is no point in earning money and never spending any of it. Every once in a while you need to be a bit fruitful with your hard earned money. I don't think that your financial status is related to how successful you are. Although someone may have a surplus of money and nice things, they may not feel content or fulfilled. I find that it may not be super easy to become wealthy, but it is possible with saving and investments, but if you can live an average lifestyle and have fun all the while, I find that to be much more important than the actual possession of money. Success is when you feel accomplished. It could be in any aspect of your life. Maybe you do a great job at work and earn a bonus, or maybe take your family on a great vacation, or just spend time eating dinner around the dinner table. You don't need to spend money to be happy.

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    1. I also think it is so sad that money is necessary to survival. What if money was never invented?

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    2. (even though that is so unrealistic)

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  12. In today's society people rely to much on money. They think that your success is defined by how much you make or how big your house is. Not all success is determined by a pay check. If you work hard for what you have and don't give up that is just as successful. I think people need to slow down with worrying about money. I understand if you are worried about making house payments but if you have a good enough life you don't need to go on 3 vacations a year.I think society's standards are causing a lot of people to think having more money is better.

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  13. Money is the biggest sin in the world right now. It corrupts good people, and I'm not saying all wealthy people are evil, but rather they make it a false priority. Money can be a restricting thing in life but it shouldn't stop people from doing what they love and being happy. Happiness is the best thing in life. And happiness has it's own currency. It's called love. People need to give more love. Everyone has it. People need to look for the more important things in life like joy, relationships, and passion.

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  14. People constantly worry about money. Everyone focuses on how they can get more money and what they want to spend their money on. People are falsely lead to believe that the more money they have the happier they will be. But what good is having money and material items if you don't have anyone to share them with. I don't think that people want more money always. I think that they long to have someone to share all that stuff with. People think that if they earn a lot of money, someone will want to be with them and then they will be happy. People need to switch their priorities because when your happy with yourself you don't need money.

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    1. I agree that you need to be happy with yourself to live a good, full life. Good point of view!

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  15. To be honest money is something I desire. I want to grow up to have a very comfortable life style and I will work my hardest to achieve that.That money I wish to achieve though isn’t all for myself. My desire for money is to fulfill my dream job (I want to be a dermatologist and open up a makeup company) as well as to fill my hopes for my life. These include traveling to a third world country in order to help an orphanage by providing them with the things they can’t afford as well as adopting a child there. I do want and desire money but I want that money to help others who are in situations, like unsatisfactory orphanages, and give them a better life with a desire to also work hard and succeed so they in turn can help others.
    In terms of success I don’t think this is measured in money. I think success comes with working through the barriers and achieving the goals that you want for your life. With each goal you achieve without giving up you become more successful. I think wealth comes with how many risks you're willing to take to jump from one comfortable place to risk the unknown of the next. These people who work hard and take risks are the ones that come into wealth. In my opinion though, those people earned it. So when in enough, enough? I think this comes when money becomes everything. Some people turn into obsessive workaholics who will miss our on important family events or work late shifts instead of spending their night with the person they love. When this starts to happen, without a goal for this money, thats when the evils of money come out.

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  16. Of course everyone looks at wealth and money and wants it. Everyone’s perceptions of wealth and money are the same I think. Every one wants it so badly but people will not come out and say that straight up. I am not going to lie; my number one desire is money as for everyones. No one wants to be poor. Everything costs money now and every one is doing whatever they can to just not be poor. What is wealth? Wealth is not being poor. Take that whatever way you want; whether it relates to life or to money. We are always wanting more. Especially as Americans. We are starting to get our “wants” confused with our “needs”. Our wants are becoming our needs; which is very sad. We never realize how much we have until we see someone with nothing.

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  17. I feel as if there is a big difference between material wealth and money. It depends on the person to immerse those two together. Material wealth is when people want to live the high life, climb up the social ladder, and get all the material things they could’ve ever wanted. Money is just a big factor in that but it doesn’t make you want material wealth either or become greedy with it. With, money it depends on the person and how they use money in their daily lives, it can either make or break you. There are those people who don’t let their money consume their lives and there are others who let it destroy their lives. For example, in movies you see the guy dating the girl of his dreams and the guy gets a promotion that would make him have to leave his girl. What does the guy choose? The job or his soul mate? Some people choose their job over the girl and you see them regret it years later when they find out the girl has moved on. Unless, the guy chooses the girl, then you see him living a happy life, and not regretting a single thing. In my case, I wish to make a lot of MONEY; I could care less about the material things. I would save up all the money I make; I don’t need fancy cars or anything too expensive to live on. Also, I would probably use the money I receive to pay back my parents for everything they’ve given to me, I would love to support my parents so they wouldn’t have to work when they’re old. In my opinion, wealth is having an abundance of money, I feel as if some people in the world view wealthy people and dream to be like them. I see way too many people who are rich and don’t do anything with their money. Except for spending it on thousands of cars that they just leave in their garage to just stare at. For example, there was a show on MTV called ‘Cribs’, it was a showing famous people’s houses and how big they were. Why do you need a big house? When you’re living by yourself, does one person really need a huge mansion? No, no one does yet everyone wants that to be their life. I feel as if we just strive to become better and receive better things. It’s a constant motivation that some people feel like they never truly reach it. Although, sometimes that motivation can cloud our judgment up and make us do stupid mistakes. For some people, the drive for material wealth can drive people towards the edge, while for others it gives them a reality check. For some people, being happy with how their life is at a point is all they strive for. It depends on the person and what they hope for and how they have to remember to come back to their roots. Some people become jaded but is being rich really going to determine the kind of person you are? Definitely not, at least for me anyways, I view success as finishing college. Something that my parents could never do and finding a job that I enjoy going to everyday. I want to help people and if I can do that in my near future then my life will be going on the right path. That’s my dream and I’ll be very proud of myself to achieve this.

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    1. I definitely agree with you Tiffany, being rich doesn’t determine the kind of person you are it just shows that you’re someone who makes a lot of money. It doesn’t always means your successful either. going to school and finishing college is being successful I totally agree, and education is the most important

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  18. We live in a world where money is worth more and means more to people than living a good life. People think that if they have money they can have what they want in life, but you can’t just buy your way through life. Wealth in the form of materials, I will admit, is fun to have, but I’s not everything. Some of my favorite days are when I’m with my family in the middle of the mountains where there are almost no electronics and it’s mostly just us and our car. In certain ways it is something I desire, but I live perfectly happy without the things I want. Wealth doesn’t have a price tag; ‘wealth’ is different for everyone because we all value different things. People these days always want the newest iPhone or the most advanced car or the biggest house, but that doesn’t show anything about you or your life. We always want bigger, better, best, there is no acceptance in what we have, we always want more.in some cases, it gets to the point where people would rather save their electronics in a house fire than photographs or priceless items. Money isn’t everything; it doesn’t define you or place you above anyone. To rise above someone is to work harder than them or be the better person; if you have a lot of money because you’ve worked hard and earned every penny, then good for you, but people who have everything handed to them don’t know the actual value of earning your wealth. Personally, I find money to just be a bunch of numbers; they don’t really provide me with much. Most of what I consider my wealth is my best friends, my family, my books, my music and my imagination. I can do fine without much else. Wealth is state of mind.

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  19. Unfortunately money is a symbol of happiness, especially in America. Everyone has this dream or idea that the more money you have the happier or successful you’ll be. Ever since the population grew, taxes increased and cultural differences erupted things started blowing out of proportion. And soon money was required to live in America. Money means a lot to me because personally I have to pay for my car insurance, gas, and lunch for school. I work part time at South Suburban and caddie at Cherry Hills Country Club. I have to make money in order to survive and live the life I’m living. I do desire it and want it all the time because the more I have the more satisfied and stable I am.

    Wealth does not mean the amount of income you make, but rather the quality of life style you live in terms of health of social, physical, and mental things. Enough is never enough because there’s always that desire of having more. Being happy and content is all that matters, but who doesn’t want more of that feeling each and every day? Living life to the fullest is important while keeping your wealth in balance; that is the true concept of being happy. But unfortunately people don’t see the world like that; it’s too bad that money has gotten in the way of accomplishing your dreams.

    How successful you are does not reflect off your financial status. Success goes off sports, school/grades, and relationships. For example, I don’t come from a whole lot; in fact some could say I’m poor. But despite that down fall I’ve been pretty successful with the golf game and in classroom so far. Money has nothing to do with my success and that’s the beauty of being unique. But in the working world of business and career money has everything to do with being successful. Those people went to school for ten years and spent thousands of dollars on education; getting the money in return to income is important and right! Success to me is the amount of hard work you put in to something and get something back in return for the better, something that impacts you.

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  20. The perception of money and wealth in today’s world is totally different than it should be. I believe that in today’s world people believe that money is everything and that if you don’t have money that you are not successful in life. Also, that if you have the best things that you are the best. I believe that it is everybody’s natural instinct to want and have more money. Everybody wants more and more money to get things to make them happy. But it only provides a temporary happiness. I believe that if you are happy with your family then money and wealth shouldn’t define who you are as a person. I in no way believe that financial standings does not describe how successful you are as a human being. If you work really hard in life and do everything on time and as you have been told to do so that you are really successful. Even if you don’t make that much money that you have still been a successful person.

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  21. Wealth is how much you have. Not necessarily how much money, but how much love is in your life. That being said, many people only see the money side of it, the constant craving to spend more and more of things you don't need. In our society, there is never a point when enough is enough. We fill our lives with excess stuff, trying to be happy, and never stop spending on new things until the very day we die. We think a money sign next to our name tells us how successful we are. I think to have success in ones life means that you made a difference in someone's life, that you changed it for the better, while making you and that person better people. You may not be making at least six digit figures on your pay check, but you are making an impact on peoples lives that means so much more than any amount of money. We want more and more, but all we really need in life are the people that bring you up when your down, and the jokes that make you smile when your sad, that's what wealth is to me, not the possessions you have, but the people that you surround yourself with that make a life worth living and changing the lives of those people for the better.

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