World view from a 14 year old - WHY MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS

My 14 year old daughter asked me to read something she had written last night. It was profound and well thought out. The content of her writing still had me thinking the day after so I share it with you in the hope it might do the same.

It is a proven fact that when people are under heavy stress, their life expectancy decreases by 2.8 years. In the long run, that may not seem like a lot of time. But 2.8 years is 33 months, 143 weeks, 1003 days, 24072 hours, 86659200 seconds. That is time that could be spent with friends and family. That is time that could be used to find a cure for cancer, to stop global warming, to change the world. Instead, people are stressing too much about everything that can possibly be stressed about. Is my child okay? Do I have enough money to pay for the hospital bill? Can I afford to feed my family for the week??

The short answer is: over 800 million people live in poverty, earning less than enough money to provide for themselves and their families. 822 million people cannot afford to buy food, leaving them undernourished and resulting in the death of 3.1 million children a year.?

Now, you tell me, do you think any of those people are happy?

I know, for a fact, that if you gave these people the tiniest amount of money, just enough to feed their families, they would be happy with that. They would be happier than they were the day before, because they have one less thing to worry about; therefore making them live longer, giving them more chances at success. And yet, there are still people - usually those who have money - saying that money cannot buy happiness.?

Is it even possible to consider a life without money? Imagine right now you get an emergency alert on your phone saying: ‘Kia ora, team of five million. The government has made a slightly rash yet still completely logical decision that as of 11:59 pm tonight, money will no longer be used in Aotearoa, New Zealand.’?

Everyone’s first instinct would be to panic. What do we do without money? There would be no need to go to school, no need to work, no need to do anything! How relaxing would that be, to just sit around and do nothing! Maybe for the first couple of days at least.?

Eventually, everything would fade into a peaceful chaos. You would have to scavenge bins to get scraps of food, for everything would have been taken from the supermarkets and none of it restocked since there are no workers. Hundreds and thousands of people dead; the hospitals would be ghost towns. There would be no control, but also no insane house prices, no taxes, no overpriced cauliflower. Soon, people would lose their sanity and their happiness all at once, leaving us clueless and depressed.?

At the end of the day, money is the foundation of our society. We have built peace, and bliss, upon money, and have come to depend on the eftpos card or cash in our wallets. Nobody reading this truly knows what life would be like without money, me included. But I am wise enough to realise that without it, the world would be a depressed shell of what it once was.?

Happiness all leads back to the five main necessities for survival: food, water, clothing, sleep and shelter. Starving, cold, homeless people are not happy people. All of these five main necessities can only be accessed with one thing: money. The first known form of currency, the Mesopotamian shekel, emerged nearly 5,000 years ago. Since then, money has controlled society, along with every single homosapien to ever live. We start wars over money, murder each other for money, and above all, devote our entire lives to earning this immensely powerful resource. Yet, in order to obtain money, you need to have it first, creating this infinite loop of what family you’re born into and the lottery that is life, that makes people mad. They get mad, because how come they weren’t born into a rich family? How come some people are privileged enough to afford dinner every night and breakfast every morning??

Generally speaking, people with money are happy. They have everything they could want in life, possessions wise. Obviously, you won’t be able to buy true, lasting love with money, but you could buy a pool, a Porsche, a poodle. All things that bring you happiness, and enjoyment in your day-to-day life. We’ve all heard the story about the rich boy who has everything he could ever want in life, but his parents are never home and he’s emotionally starved. The cash and eftpos card cannot buy the one thing this boy is yearning for: love. How lonely that would be, to live in a giant 10 story mansion with just butlers and dogs for company. However, he would also be able to walk to a bowling alley, have 7 course meals every night, and never do a load of washing in his life. Yes, money has some downsides, but doesn’t everything??

Money gives you choice, therefore giving you freedom to live your life how you want to. Everyone wants to have options; people protest for choice and freedom everyday. Despite that, every country makes you pay for your own human rights: food, water, healthcare. Healthcare especially is one of the biggest problems in countries such as the United States. Going to the hospital costs thousands and thousands of dollars putting more people in debt, leading to more people in poverty. Why should we have to pay for something that should be free? Why are there women giving birth in mud, and dirt, and shacks when they should be surrounded by doctors, nurses, and midwives? Do you see the pattern here? Money has more power over our lives than any human has ever had, even though it is just an inanimate object. As much as money can buy happiness, with things like healthcare and food, it can also make every breath you take a struggle.?

Money buys bombs, guns, drugs, alcohol, swords, murder weapons. Money buys death, depression, stress, fear. It is something to be used so preciously, with such care and hesitation, or you will end up in the hole you have dug yourself and with no ladder to get out.?

I am eternally grateful that I am one of the few people who do not have to worry about when my next meal will be, or whether my parents will be able to pay the rent this month. Because of not having this amount of stress pressured onto me; I am happy. I am happy enough to laugh to the point of tears on a daily basis, and smile more often than probably necessary. I am happy enough to pay attention in class, and work hard to get excellence’s; knowing that no matter what grade I get my parents will still be proud of me. I am happy enough to actually care about school, about doing well in life and becoming successful. I am happy enough to realise that one of the many reasons for my happiness is this little thing called money. So many hundreds and thousands and millions of people do not have this privilege of money; one of them may be the very person reading this.?

There are too many people living in poverty; too many millions of dollars wasted on pointless things instead of what actually matters: people’s happiness. This opinion piece is not just about why money can buy happiness; even if that’s how it started. It’s about protest, and rage, and death, and poverty, and neglect, and resentment. All things that can, and most of the time do, start and end with money. Isn’t this one of our biggest weaknesses, as humans? Everything in our society starts and ends with money. How is it fair that in order to get money, you need to have it first? How is it suddenly accepted that money equals happiness??

But is it really true that money can buy happiness? I have provided you with the facts, and my argument, but it is up to you whether or not you agree with me. Deciding whether money can or cannot buy happiness is not as simple as just reading this opinion piece and suddenly knowing what you agree with. Your experiences make your perspective on the world biassed, just like how much money you have changes how you think it affects human happiness. A sad rich person, for example, will probably think that money cannot buy happiness since they have all the money they need yet are still not happy. On the other hand, a happy rich person would think that money can buy happiness, since they have money and are as happy as can be.

Whether or not money can buy happiness links back to our emotions, and the different experiences we have all lived through. It’s not as simple as saying yes or no, since we all view money differently. Some may see it as a burden, the endless stress of not knowing if they’ll be able to pay the rent this month. Others may see it as just another part of their life, not particularly important since it is just another thing that has always been there.?

So I guess the real question is: what is the cost of your happiness?