Алиса Киреева (Advanced)

Can money buy happiness? (Эссе, 2011)

My life has sensibly changed within last couple years from "kid's enjoyment" to "adult's living". Sometimes I had to make complicated choice between mind and feelings and sometimes it was the lesser of two evils, not the sincere certainty in what I need. The greatest doubt for me is the place of material benefits in my life. I don't want to be seemed a mercantile person, as well as have no desire to act like an infantile damsel. That's why it's time to understand the relations between money and happiness.

The eternal issue of wealth and poverty not once has risen since earliest times. The folktales and legends of every nation replete with striking examples, in which Ivan the Fool or Aladdin are meant to be happy and successful in comparison with Kosheei the immortal or the greedy rajah. But our stark reality as usual runs contrary to wisdom folklore, and the phrase "Happiness is not in the money" is considered to be an idler's motto. And if happiness can't be measured in terms of dollars, why people voluantary participate in a world rat race?

Let’s take health, which usually can't be bought or even can be ruined by every conceivable pleasure rich people afford themselves. But what about cancer patients or infants with congenital diseases? Is money for them not a last resort?

So, money can buy happiness if happiness is in subjection to health.

In many sources of information happiness is associated with balance and security. It is doubtful whether an armored car and heavily armed bodyguards can create an impression of calmness. If you have a dollar, there is a person, who will intend to steal it from you. The more dollars you have, the wider the circle of those who desire it. However, if you are a father of many children, it will be complicated for you to keep the balance in your life being penniless.

The conclusion is that peace of mind is not to be found with wealth, but you can’t avoid problems by throwing it out of the window.

Finally, let's take such inviolable aspect of happiness like love. Admittedly, there are women, who are blamed for self-interest in relationships, and there are men, who are in many instances are dead certain, that money can make them very popular with women. By the way, for men it really works… with the same self-interested women.

The question is: Is it love?

After all the discussions and arguments, is it really possible to separate money from happiness or should we fasten them together? Answer is not so simple as it seemed to be at a first sight and each person is to assign by himself the role of money in his life at length. Money as it is certainly can’t provide us with happiness, but the way we spend it can affect our inward satisfaction and people’s attitude to us.

"Money doesn't buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it." Jonny Depp

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