Come December, the nip in the air becomes almost palpable and the season of celebration starts in full glory. The long vacation during Christmas and New Year is a time for us to be with friends and family, to appreciate our lives and show gratitude, kindness and generosity to others. As we gorge on the lavish feasts, we find this time an excuse to hoard on gifts for our children. Although we buy gifts in their best interest, having too many toys is counter-productive for children. According to a study conducted by the University of Missouri, children who had too many toys grew into adults with compulsive behaviours like excessive shopping, debt and gambling. Such children also tend to equate love with the number of gifts they receive. A positive …show more content…
Appreciating small things in life Even when we are rolling with our packed schedules and buzzing days, it is the little things that make it all worthy. The morning mist, a bird song, a colourful flower or a child's hug instantly brightens our day. The below Greek fable is the story of King Midas who learns this lesson a hard way. The Golden Touch King Midas is the richest man in all of Greece. He has more gold than anyone in the world. Of all things, he loves his gold the most. He has a daughter named Daphne who has an entirely different view on the world. She loves walking barefoot in her garden and smells the blooming roses. Daphne plays with the birds and bunnies in the woods around her palace. She feels content staring at the tranquil moon at night. When Daphne calls her father for a walk in the garden, King Midas ignores and looks for new jewellery to adorn Daphne. One day, an angel shows up at King Midas' palace. King Midas has helped an old man in the past. The fairy offers a wish as a token of gratitude for his kindness. The king is elated and wishes that his touch will turn anything into gold. The bemused angel asks him to consider his wish carefully. On Midas's insistence, the angel grants him the …show more content…
Van Amsterdam's Saint Nicholas cookies are the rave of the town. As an honest man, he exactly gives his customers what they pay for. On a busy day, when Van Amsterdam is baking his famous cookies, an old day comes and asks for a dozen cookies. He meticulously counts the cookies and places them in a pack. The old day reprimands him for not giving a dozen cookies. Boasting of his high work ethic, he tells her that there are twelve cookies. She insists that a dozen is thirteen in her book. Van Amsterdam adamantly refuses to add another cookie. She warns him that he has a small heart and leaves. Soon, things start to go south in the bakery. No matter how hard he tries, the bread falls flat and the cookies get burnt. He starts to lose his customers. In about a year, he becomes poor. He prays to Saint Nicholas to save his bakery. That night, he has a dream. He is in a market as a young child. He sees Saint Nicholas with his bag full of presents. Saint Nicholas is distributing gifts to the children in the market. Van Amsterdam finds that Saint Nicholas's bag is always full regardless of taking gifts from
1. The main idea is not only that owning stuff is not the key to happiness, it’s also that consumers today own more than they need to thrive which directly impacts the environment. Hill illustrates the environmental impact by showing statistics of global warming today versus the past century, and how consumerism is leading to a hotter climate. Hill debunks claims of buying happiness by discussing a study where stress hormones spike to their highest when people are managing their personal belongings. Hill’s most prominent example that consumerism is not the answer is himself, as he discusses some of the most stressful times of his life being right after coming into a large sum of money and buying whatever he fancied. When Hill concludes his article, he states that “I have less—and enjoy more. My space is small. My life is big” (213).
“I still collect toys.Toys are a reflection of society. They are the tools that society uses to teach and enculturate children into the adult world. Toys are not innocent.” (Burden). When you think of toys you probably think about dolls or Hot Wheels. What you probably don’t know is the toys can vary into anything. Toys are usually used to entertain yourself, but what if they represent more than just that. It can be a famous cite, make you question society, or just make you think about how we’re treating each other. Anything can be a toy. You just have to be creative to make it more than a toy. Chris Burden, an amazing artist, famously known for creating artwork that reflect on society, in most of his work he used toys to help him. Burden is famously known for two pieces of artwork, Shoot and Urban
The world in which Lily grows up in is one where money is the standard by which everyone is judged. In a setting like this, “money stands for all kinds of things- its purchasing quality isn’t limited to diamonds and motor cars” (Wharton 66). Therefore, even small things such as the way a person dresses or the places someone frequents become of high importance as they are representative of how much money a person possesses. This materialistic tendency ...
which explains well how she had a finite amount of money and thought material wealth was more important than happiness. If she only knew before that she would spend the next decade working off her debt, she would have never asked for the necklace and she would have had a happy life. Furthermore, wealth isn’t the only thing that brings happiness to life. With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable.
Addiction can be a disorder filled with denial and regret, and is often sparked by one’s free will. Children are taught, as early as elementary school, to abstain from drugs and alcohol, which constitute the two of the largest culprits of addiction. Naturally, when one ponders addiction, his or her mind automatically travels to the realm of addictive substances, and does not consider what else may constitute as an addiction. What about an addiction affecting nearly a million Americans that does not involve choice? It is an addiction so mysterious that a significant percentage of sufferers go undiagnosed due to hidden mounds of unnecessary clutter. According to Randy Frost and Tamara Hartl, hoarding is medically defined as “the acquisition of, and inability to discard worthless items even though they appear (to others) to have no value” (Defining Compulsive Hoarding). Compulsive hoarding is a devastating disorder that affects an estimated 700,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States (Maidment).
As the speaker hunts with his father, he has learned to meditate. When the speaker grows older, he can “spend whole mornings in the bush, … [his] senses riveted on the changing patterns of light, colour, form, and sound in the forest” (4). Meditation strengthens his connection with the nature and merely sitting in the bush satisfies him. Meanwhile, his children follow the culture of instant pleasure. On Christmas morning, the children at first “thoroughly [explore] the possibilities of [the] new [toys]” (7), but their level of satisfaction drops rapidly and by lunch time, “[they] were off playing with the empty boxes” (7). Their behaviour suggests that the culture of consumption heavily influences them and the many material goods can only entertain them for half a day. This creates a contrast with the speaker’s meditation and implies that people nowadays only focuses on
Charles dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol” endorses the notion that “Generosity involves more than the giving of money, it’s also about the giving of one's goodwill, compassion, sympathy, empathy and kindness. By taking his seemingly irredeemable protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey, Dickens’ intends to convey to all of society the importance of generosity. He proclaims that generosity of the spirit defines Christmas, and goes a large way towards defining true humanity for him as well.
She comes from a good family that works for what they have. She marries a good hard workingman. But, Mathilde is not happy the way she is living and she daydreams about having the glamorous life. From having fancy tapestries, grand banquets to tall footmen. One day her husband, M. Loisel, comes homes extremely excited to show his wife an invitation that he has received to go to a fancy ball. She is not happy because she has nothing to wear and she doesn’t want to show up looking ugly with house full of rich people. She got the dress she wanted but then was not happy because she needed jewelry to go with this dress. Mathilde went to her rich friend to borrow jewels from. Of course she went with the most extravagant piece of jewelry, a diamond necklace. Showing up to the fancy ball with everybody adoring what a beauty she is, Mathilde was finally satisfied. When she got home after the fancy ball, she noticed that the necklace she borrowed was missing. Looking franticly for weeks, Mathilde then decided she had to replace the necklace. Replacing the necklace took everything they had and more. Mr. and Mrs. Loisel then became extremely poor with no money to there name. They then had to sell everything had and both now had to work. This went on for about ten years. Mathilde had no beauty to her anymore, she had to work, and do the house keeping. The
Values are spread all around the world, and many people’s values differ. These can lead to people being judged, or indirectly characterized by other people. In “The Necklace” Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they search out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she no longer has the necklace on when she leaves the ball. This later troubles her, as she has to work for a long time to collect enough money to buy a new necklace. This story describes the relationship between a couple, who have different dreams, and how desires can revamp your life. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace” uses literary devices to prove people come before materialistic items.
for a man working for God, he does not seem to apply the covenant of
All that glitters is not gold. A lesson Mathilde Loisel had learned during her journey of discovering the greed. Greed is a curse that blocks people’s vision from seeing the realistic value of things...
King Midas and the Golden Touch, is one of the most famous myths in western lore. It details the story of one man’s greed and lust for wealth leading to his ultimate downfall. Initially written by Ovid, in his Metamorphoses published in 8 A.D, it has been adapted and analyzed even in modern times. Written in Dactylic Hexameter, as customary of great mythological works of the time period, the poem effectively served as a part of a guide to life for the ancient Romans. The morals the story teaches are still applicable in this day and age. As the story is intertwined with the rest of the epic, it is important to evaluate the myth in an educated and modified light. In King Midas and the Golden Touch, Ovid deftly illustrates the importance of restraint by detailing King Midas’ suffering from his greed.
The myth King Midas and the Golden Touch reveals that in ancient Greek culture, the wealthy were preoccupied with becoming richer. King Midas and the Golden Touch is a good lesson for today. The story shows very powerfully what happens when people loose focus on what is truly important. King Midas lived in ancient Greek culture, yet he was a reflection on our modern day society.
Many people have a compulsive shopping disorder. However, some person’s compulsive shopping disorder effects their daily lives.
The night of the ball came and Mathilde looked great; everyone admired her. The evening ended and everyone went home. Mathilde decided that she would look at herself in the mirror one last time before getting out of the clothes. When she did, she noticed the necklace that she admired so much was gone. Mathilde and her husband had to borrow thirty-six thousand francs from people they knew to buy another just like it so they could return it to the friend. Mathilde and her husband were deeply in debt. For ten years they worked day in and day out until finally the debt was paid off.