Essays

The part played by money in our everyday life is very important indeed. We need money to buy food and to pay our bills. In this modern world, most of the things that we want. material or otherwise, can be obtained in exchange for money. Without money, one's life can become a misery.

It is thus not surprising to find that many people place money making as their top priority in life. This attitude is fine as long as they remember that there are other facets of life in which money is not required. Quite often money cannot buy these things at all. Take for example, one's health: money can buy the best medical care available, but if free basic attention has not been paid to one's health which is allowed to deteriorate, there will come a time when no money in the world can return one to good health. I, for one, prefer to be healthy than rich.

Nevertheless we do need money, So it is wise for every able-bodied person to do some sort of work so that he or she can be paid for the work done. Subsequently, he or she can spend the money buying necessary things.

I suppose that the work-in-exchange-for-money practice works well in general. However for some people, the lure of money becomes overwhelming. Greed blinds them and they spend their whole life pursuing money. The methods employed in this pursuit are not subject to any law or reason. As long as they make profit, they will do it even though they might hurt themselves and make enemies in the process. Time and again we hear stories of people caught up in this money-madness. The millionaire dies of starvation, the miser who would rather freeze than spend some money on heating, the woman who stuffs her money inside her mattresses only to lose it all in a fire—the list is endless. All these are examples of people who have allowed money to be the most important thing in their lives. They started out trying to make a living- They ended up forgetting to live.

Most people that I have met lament about money, or rather, the lack of it. They are always trying to make ends meet. There is always an unsettled bill to pay. It seems to me that this situation occurs because these people are always living beyond their means. They must buy another car, another house, a larger TV set, the latest cellphone, etc. To remain in debt becomes the vogue- Keeping up with the society is a very real social disease of our times. It keeps people slogging all their lives. It keeps the banks and manufacturers happy.

Then there are people who want money but indulge in foul means to acquire it. We have con-men, thieves, kidnappers and gangsters operating in the midst of society. Sometimes these felons are caught and punished, but they will never be eliminated completely. This is because our very societal structure produces these criminals We are all taught from young to pursue money. We grow up feeling that we must have money, and how shameful it is to be poor. So we learn to make money. Some of us learn skills and knowledge—thus enabling us to make money honestly. Some of us, either due to lack of ability or unforeseen circumstances, take up socially unacceptable means of accumulating money.

In conclusion, I would say that virtually every adult is after money-making in some form or the other, be it earning an honest living or getting money gun-piort, it is the degree of the social acceptability of effort that is exerted to obtain money that varies from person to person. Each person has his/her choice—to make and use money wisely, or to let money become his master. In other words, it is left to him/her to decide, whether he/she wants to lead a rich balanced life where he thoroughly enjoys his/her work and the fruits of his work; or he/she wants to fill himself so much with money that he/she forsakes his/her self and becomes smothered by his/her riches.