Some individuals work hard to end up on top of society, always. Social culture conditions us to believe that working hard provides money, power, and happiness. The idea of hard work provides comfort that one day we can live as we want to and not as the powerful people above us dictate us to. The idea of living life without the perks that hard working provides would mean letting go of the idea of material possessions making us happy and being comfortable without always being in competition with those around us.
The idea of letting go of the idea of material possessions means understanding that image does not mean everything. Once this is understood, a sense of freedom can come over us, as we understand that life doesn’t have to be so cutthroat for us to be happy. A material possession is a universal concept that translates in any language. Happiness is a concept that is not quite understood. A lot of the time, happiness is equated to material possessions, and isn’t seen as its own idea. Always wanting something new after getting something, always thinking that the new items that come out in stores must be in our possessions or else happiness won’t be achieved, we accept this idea of conditional happiness. This takes over, while true happiness shrinks inside of us and we lose what happiness really is. If we separate ourselves from our material possessions and ideas, we can realize that our idea of happiness has all to do with external possessions and not internal ones.
In her essay “The Company Man,” Ellen Goodman searches beyond the surface of a death of a business professional and sees his life in review as told by the obituary, and how his life was different from how it was written. “He worked himself to death” was not a suitabl...
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...pt them, and move on. It’s their duty to maintain expectations of what is considered cool and relevant. Despite the hidden truth, people around them want to be like them because these people want the perks, happiness, friendship, photo-shoots, which they attached with being one of “Da Gurlz.” These girls shared information online that framed them as glamorous to fill their voids, but really, inside, they were empty and vulnerable under the layers of disguise. “Da Gurlz” clung to one another because they shared the burden of the spotlight. People talked about “Da Gurlz”, and how shallow they thought “Da Gurlz” were. “Da Gurlz” secluded themselves to avoid getting hurt by people who don’t know what they had to deal with. Because their colleagues would glamourize them and pay close attention to each of their actions, they couldn’t just be regular kids without pressure.
...rsuit of happiness” distinguishes the value of property ownership. He believed that having your own property is essential to supporting ones self, developing talents, controlling work, establishing values, trading, and making a living. It focuses on the having an abundant amount of goods and never depriving their own.
“I rather would be blind than then see this world in yellow, and bought and sold by kings that hammer roses into gold.” (King Midas Pg.462 Para.10) Many think that if they got what they wanted they would be happy, but if the world was all based on malterlistic things and everyone got what they wanted there would be chaos and no feelings just want and people would do crazy things to get what they want. Now a day’s people mistake malterlistic things for happiness. “The necklace”, “Ads may spur unhappy kids to embrace materialism”, And “Thrill of the chase” illustrates examples of materialism and show some base their happiness on it.
In the movie, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) did not exhibit the attributes of William Whyte's organization man. Whyte argued that American business life had abandoned the old virtues of self-reliance in favor of loyalty to the postwar corporation. Corporate life was unfulfilling because its routine and organizational structure robbed men of their identities and the self-fulfillment they previously gained from manual work or jobs in smaller businesses. As the title suggests, men donned suits, becoming indistinguishable from one another, and conformed to this lifestyle. As the protagonist, Tom, said in the movie, "All I could see was a lot of bright young men in grey flannel suits rushing around New York in a frantic parade to nowhere." This paper will prove that Tom's reliance on his own thinking style created tension for his organizational life at UBC.
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).
This is a very prideful way to view society. I believe that if a man works hard, he should be rewarded and can accumulate wealth that way. Not given money from the rich who worked hard to get wealth.
Everyone grows up with a dream, but everyone will not get the opportunity to do so, being born in the financial situation of their family. In third world countries people struggle to make money on a daily basis. These people want more than what they have, but to attain those extra luxuries, they have to sacrifice their current possessions.This is not possible in as sacrificing what they have can lead to starvation. They want a better future but they need to be able to live on a daily basis. It is called investment in the future vs temporary happiness. Attaining security requires risking one’s belongings to earn liberty and equality in the future. Although temporary contentment must be sacrificed to attain security in life, it must be one’s
Some people may be born into a family with wealth, and that is acceptable. Some people on the other hand, are not born into a family with wealth, and that is acceptable too. The work that families have done to get to the level they are in, are just a cushion. People should try to build their own reputation or success. Even if people work toward their goals of success, it could take years to reach, it isn’t something that happens over night usually. The way they act or present themselves in certain circumstances will determine if they succeed or fail. As much as people want to control every step toward that, there are things that are out of everyone's control. Every action they do, every decision they make, they can not control everything. There are certain things that can put a halt toward success, things many do not see coming till it happens. Oedipus had no idea that he was the one causing the sickness that was spreading through his kingdom. He was doing well as a king, but certain things can change that. His curse put on him when he was younger, was out of his control. The priest reminds Oedipus of his success depict the sickness surrounding them, “You saved us from Sphinx…”(40). Success may be the one thing you can control, but at the same time have no idea what could come
...s means being satisfied with what one has and getting effective use out of them. While Swimme implies that the desire for possessions has become the new “religion”, people need to focus on living a life with purpose over desiring material things. Faith guarantees complete gratification only when a person surrenders the object or idea of interest. Ultimately, people need to place their priorities first and do everything in moderation. Everyone should strive to make a life, live it to the fullest but at the same time, take care of what needs to be taken care of.
Gladwell demonstrates that hard work does not get people to high places but a series of opportunities and other factors will. What people have grown up to think about hard work is not true and it is demonstrated through these various examples. People will not be able to succeed, practice, and master their skills without opportunities, timing, devotion, and moral support. There is no such thing as “rags to riches” because those people would not be rich unless they had opportunities in their life. Remember that with out these key factors, people will never be able to succeed.
Noteably when it has to do with money. If someone works hard their whole life, takes risks, as a consequence ends up successful, which is a substance to applaud about. America is known as the “land of the free”; you are not destined to be successful depending on your family, class, or residency. A few situations might brew it extra challenging for a person to economically thrive, but not impossible. There always has to be the bottom and top of a scale, but Pennington describes that being on the bottom, as well as seeing the top, should give you motivation to be greater. That is true in behalf of, if there were no “ top of the food chain” people who look at life, as a competition would have no motivation to be profoundly the best they could be. This is why the lazy people get jealous; they do not like seeing other people succeeding over them. They do not live above and beyond to try to pass the
We live in a materialistic culture that thrives on having "things." Yes, we must have things in order to live (shelter, food, water, etc.), but the word is misused. Our culture has become so materialistic that we forget what is really important. The "have" mode has almost become the norm, especially with our generation. Even though we subconsciously practice the mode of “being,” many people do not realize it which makes it difficult to appreciate life and all the aspects of “being.” “Because the society we live in is devoted to acquiring property and making a profit, we rarely see any evidence of the being mode of existence and most people see the having mode as the most natural mode of existence, even the only acceptable way of life” (Fromm 25). Majority of people want to be as successful and rich as possible that this idea takes over their mind and eventually lives. Every young person is obsessed with “fitting in” and having the latest and greatest items. This attitude causes adolescents to lose sight of what is important and lose touch with their emotions. Our culture needs to begin to think less about material items and being rich and more about his/her emotions and what it means to be truly happy. It is important to focus on the “bigger picture” and how one must become the best person he/she can be to benefit
Hard work is challenging work. But why does it have to be challenging work? Because challenging work, when intelligently chosen, pays off. It’s the work that people of lesser character will avoid. And if you infer that I’m saying people who avoid challenging work have a character flaw, you’re right… and a serious one at that. If you avoid challenging work, you avoid doing what it takes to succeed. To keep your muscles strong or your mind sharp, you need to challenge them. To do only what’s easy will lead to physical and mental flabbiness and very mediocre results, followed by a great deal of time and effort spent justifying why such flabbiness is OK, instead of stepping up and taking on some real challenges.
Contrary to belief, genuine happiness is very rarely found at the bottom of a shopping basket or on the leather seats of a brand new car. Often we hear the cliché saying “Money can’t buy happiness” but this is in fact true. Whilst the elation and delight brought from finally owning a wanted item is extraordinary, you must remind yourself that your happiness should not become dependant upon your ownership of this item. Being happy is not something you can purchase from a shop or car dealership, it is the way you take on life. Unfortunately, happiness does not have its own aisle at shops and never will.
Hard work is a reasonably straightforward phrase. People work hard to achieve their aspirations but, would prefer to immerse in comfort. Furthermore, I was constantly around people that strive for greatness. Although, they would cease their goals when they have reached a place of comfort. I have never understand why people would stop chasing their goals when they are making progress. To put it differently, My dad consistently told me to work hard and accomplish what he could not, I never knew what he meant by that. As a kid, I always thought he was just giving me a lecture about how I need to focus on school. However, the more I learned as I grew up, I finally get his words. Important to realize, my parents had to sacrificed so much to be able
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.