Money is an essential thing to have in today’s society. Many people argue that “money can’t buy happiness,” and they have a point. Happiness isn’t really ever reatlets to wealth, but to meaningful relationships and doing the things you love. There are many studies that show that poorer people tend to have more meaningful lives than people with a lot of money. Many people think that having money makes everything better, but happiness is not controlled by your financial status. Happiness is not defined by income, but by hardworks and hardships, experiences, and meaningful relationships. Adversity and hard work build character and promotes meaningful lives. People that live off of their parents and don’t put in the effort to do something with …show more content…
Experiences shape us and make us better people. Experience also brings happiness and fervor into our lives. Of course, experiences are what you make them. They can help or harm you. Happiness is all about your attitude about happenings. Professor Ryan Howell conducted a study to show the value of material over experiences. He says, “People think that experiences are only going to provide a temporary happiness, but they actually provide both more happiness and more lasting value” (Blackman). At the beginning of this study, most people favored material purchases over experiences, but came to realize that experiences provided much more lasting happiness and purpose in their lives. Another example of the importance of experiences over wealth is shown in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a very rich man that has extravagant parties that everyone comes to. His parties hide the fact that he is lonely, sad man. One of his guests at a party says, “It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too-didn’t cut the pages… But what do you expect?” (Fitzgerald, 45-46). This guest is admiring the valuable and expensive books in Gatsby’s library, and he knows that Gatsby hasn’t used them at all. They have just become meager decorations. Gatsby can buy many things to make it look like he’s educated and has had life experiences, but money really …show more content…
Many people have reported that they are happiest when they are close with friends and family. In the article Do The Poor Have More Meaningful Lives?” it says, “. . . if wealth fostered happiness, it appeared to drain meaningfulness” (Atler). Another article, Does Being Rich Make You Happy says, “Money does not make you happier, relationships do… Happiness has mostly to do with relationships and the quality thereof” (Carlson). Both of these articles have substantial evidence that happiness is found through relationships. Quality relationships promote quality