Multigenre paper: Happiness is not material

The Dialog Two former friends Bob and John havenЎ¦t seen each other for years. Finally, they meet. Bob is a successful businessmen, John is a teacher at the university. Bob: John, how do you live? Look at your car! How old is it? John: But itЎ¦s still ok. I donЎ¦t see any need to buy another one. B: IЎ¦m afraid your friends and family are mocking at you.

J: Why should they? B: Look, money makes one successful in this world. If you have money, you have everything: fame, friends, all possible ways to enjoy life! J: Money can also destroy oneЎ¦s lifeЎK B: Nonsense! Look at me J: I seeЎKAre you quite satisfied? B: Actually not yet. But itЎ¦s the question of time. IЎ¦m developing my business right now. When I get more money I

Ў¦ll buy a nice villa at the seashore, find a nice girlfriend and go there to enjoy my life. J: Oh, I have such a friend. B: So? J: HeЎ¦s been living there for five years already. And practically every month he complains of depression and he drinks a lot B: He is just a fool J: He wasnЎ¦t B: But this town stuck in the mud! J: I donЎ¦t think so. I like this place, itЎ¦s good enough for my job. Of course may be not for yours.

But as for me, I like it. It is not the place, that will make you happy. And do you live in heaven? B: Are you kidding me? ItЎ¦s more like hell: the smog, noise, traffic jams, crowds of peopleЎK Of course, IЎ¦m not gonna stay there for long J: I wish you good luck then! The Happiness Parable An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with

just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, Ў§only a little while.ЎЁ The American then asked why didnЎ¦t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his familyЎ¦s immediate needs. The American then asked, Ў§but what do you do with the rest of your time?ЎЁ The Mexican fisherman said,

Ў§I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.ЎЁ The American scoffed, Ў§I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several

boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.ЎЁ The Mexican fisherman asked, Ў§But, how long will this all take?

ЎЁ To which the American replied, Ў§15 ЎV 20 years.ЎЁ Ў§But what then?ЎЁ Asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said, Ў§ThatЎ¦s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!ЎЁ Ў§Millions ЎV then what?ЎЁ The American said, Ў§Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandkids, take siestas with your wife, stro

ll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.ЎЁ What do people say? Extracts from the essays ѓж Can riches buy happiness? Wealth can buy many luxuries, but not happiness. Money cannot buy contentment. Money can surely buy us time with a psychiatrist with who we can talk about our unhappiness, but no amount of money can buy us happiness. Sometimes more money, and status can rob us of happiness. Think of many very rich people. They cannot move arou

nd like ordinary citizens. They will be immediately stared at. They have lost a lot of freedom in quest of money and fameЎK ЎKMoney can destroy friendships, and break family relations. The more money you have, the more people expect from you. If you refuse, your relationship goes downhill. (Quiz - Can Money Buy Happiness? By: cdmohatta) ѓж Can money buy happiness? IsnЎ¦t that the question of the century? Money and happiness have often

been pitted against each other. The popular belief, as evidenced by the number of childrenЎ¦s stories with such a theme, is that money canЎ¦t buy you happiness. They say, you can have everything in the world but if you donЎ¦t have friends or anyone to share those things with, itЎ¦s pointless. They also say that, the more money you have, the more things you end up wanting. ItЎ¦s a vicious cycle, so they sayЎK 1) Great Expectations Perhaps we have been looking at money and happiness the wrong way all our lives.

For example, we pine after the newest laptop or gadget for months, imagining the day when we can finally buy it with our hard earned money. When the day comes and we bring our newest baby home, we end up feeling a little less enthralled. We automatically think: Money doesnЎ¦t buy happiness. Look at where it got me. But according to research, our dissatisfaction has less to do with money and more to do with our uncanny ability to adapt. As human beings, we adapt to our environment very quickl

y. And so, when the newness of the laptop wears off, so does the feeling of joy, and we automatically equate the sudden drop of energy to being unhappy. 2) Buying the Experience So if buying that new laptop or that latest designer bag wonЎ¦t make us happy, what will? And how does money fit into the picture? Well, those are very good questions. Having a lot of money is a good thing because it allows you acc

ess to certain Ў§experiencesЎЁ that elude other people of lesser means. ThatЎ¦s right. The key word here is experience. With money, you can easily sweep your whole family off to the Alps for some first-class skiing. That experience will live on in your memory. If you have a penchant for music, you can easily get yourself trained in the instrument of your choice. Using your money to acquire experiences will make you happy. (Can Money Buy Happiness? The Answer Revealed!

By: Michael Lee) ѓж How about celebrities then? They have name, fame and wealth. They can, not only buy whatever they desire, but they can also buy a loved one. They can buy anything. Their name is splashed around in the media most of the times. Every news about them is awaited by the general population. Celebrities may not have been born with a silver spoon in the mouth, but the current spoon is mostly that of gold. So they must be happy! Don't we think so. But sadly, happiness is away from most of the c

elebrities. Speaking of contentment, most of them are not only not feeling any contentment, but are frustrated. Their every movement is captured by the media. They are always in the public eye. So they try to hide. They are jealous at times of the common man. And they have no deep sense of peace in them. Rather their life and minds are full of turbulence most of the times. They are at times so dissatisfied with their own life that they wish to run away from themselves.

This they cannot do, and therefore substances that take them away from their own realities are often used by them. (Are Celebrities Happy? By: cdmohatta) ѓж ЎK when you watch television you would think the good life is a new car, skinny body, or winning the lottery. If you were to look at surveys, most Americans say more money would make them happier. But what if you were to look inside at what really gives you joy? Ў

K Some would assume there is a connection between more wealth and feeling happy, an assumption that many scholars have called the "cycle of work and spend"-working more to buy more. According to one Gallup Poll, four in five people earning more than $75,000 a year say they would like to be richer. ЎK Rich people to a certain extent are happier, especially in poor countries such as India where being well off enhances the sense of wellbeing.

But if you were to take a look in the "richer" societies, more money doesn't necessarily mean more happiness or wellbeing. More money often results in the law of diminishing returns. David Lykken observes in his own studies of happiness, "People who go to work in their overalls and on the bus are just as happy, on the average, as those in suits who drive to work in their own Mercedes". So whats the end result of all of this? Since the 19

50's we have become twice as rich as a nation and no happier. The divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide rate has more than doubled, and teens increasingly are troubled with depression. Social Psychologist David Myersthe calls this the American paradox. He says "More than ever, we at the end of the last century were finding ourselves with big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility. We were excelling at

making a living but too often failing at making a life. We celebrated our prosperity but yearned for purpose. We cherished our freedoms but longed for connection. In an age of plenty, we were feeling spiritual hunger." (Wealth and Happiness. By: Robert Hunt) The Parable Who Is The Rich Man? One day a wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country so that the son could see how the poor lived. They spent a day and a night at the farm of a very p

oor family. When they got back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good, Dad!" "Did you see how poor people can be?" "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?" The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the house; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the fro

nt yard; they have the whole horizon." When the little boy was finished, the father was speechless. His son then added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!" ѓж You can own everything, but nothing should own you. Apostle Paul But what about money? One more extract from the essay ѓж 3) Generous Proportions So how else can money buy happiness? You know that warm feeling you get when you help someone in need? You can also do that with money. Since y

ou donЎ¦t have to worry about running out of cash anytime soon, you can selflessly donate some of them to charity. Or buy a homeless man a really good meal or a change of clothes. Whatever your form of charity is, it is easier and more plausible with money involved. So do you think money can buy happiness? If you ask me, I say, absolutely. The more money you have, the more you can give of yourself to others. The trick he

re is to know how to use the money correctly. (Can Money Buy Happiness? The Answer Revealed! By: Michael Lee) II. What is Happiness? What do statistics and researches say? 1. An extract from the article Ў§What is Happiness?ЎЁ Finally the scientists have given the affirmative answer to the most sacramental question of the mankind

. The sociological polls which were carried out in different countries in different years and pursued the aim to find out interrelation between wealth and happiness, only confused scientists. Earlier it was considered that the residents of the rich countries were certainly happy. And in poor countries there lived only unhappy people. But it became clear that the case is somewhat different. There are many countries where the inhabitants consider themselves being very happy, despite poor financial position. Does

it mean that happiness doesnЎ¦t depend on money? Then what does it depends on? Having become interested in this question, the faculty of history and culturology department of the Tula State University conducted a global research on the subject "Happy Pages in the history of Mankind and Everyday Life of People". What forces people to invent, think and broaden horizons? Some scientists believe: constant desire for happiness. Their opponents will disagree: the mankind reached

much more in the level of technology and in acquiring extensive knowledge for the last hundred years, than for all history of existence. But it could hardly be asserted that all and sundry became happier. This paradox can be explained that there are its own ideas of happiness in different periods of time. Let see how they have been changing in our country? In 1977 the sociologists of the Kishinev University published the results of their research on the problem Ў§

The studentsЎ¦ idea about happiness as value understandingЎЁ. To the question Ў§What is necessary for happiness?ЎЁ there were the following answers in descending order: true friends (79%), interesting and favorite job (73%), mutual love (64%), life in the name of nationЎ¦s happiness (61%), upbringing of children as true people (42%), making a good family (26%), getting the higher education (16%), travelling to different countries (15%), life without troubles (

15%), participation in one of the new projects of our country (8%), material welfare (7%), good housing conditions (6%), hassle-free vacation (3%), oneЎ¦s own car (1%). TodayЎ¦s students understand the idea of happiness in their own way. Ў§Material welfareЎЁ took the first place, but Ў§Interesting and favorite jobЎЁ and Ў§Mutual loveЎЁ maintained the second and the third places. Such issues as Ў§Life in the name of nationЎ¦s happinessЎЁ and Ў§upbringing of children as true pe

opleЎЁ disappeared from the list of their values. According to the sociologists the coefficient of happiness in our country is constantly growing. In 1993 The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (ARPORC) inquired the Russians if they are happy and the result was sad: 73-75% of people were unsatisfied with their lif