The Real Value

Look around you at your current location. What do you see? In front of you is a computer, most likely, unless you are reading this article on a PDA, cell phone, or those new nifty iPhones. Are you at a desk? What material is it made of – oak, willow, maple? Look around the room. All that stuff that makes the room what it is. A bed makes a bedroom, a toilet makes a bathroom, a dining table makes a dining room, etc. All that materialistic junk that means so much to you. Do you really care for it? Of course you do. Everything around you came into your household via money. Sure, it may have been a gift or even a free handout, but throughout the lifetime of the object in question, money was involved somewhere. To even gather the material to manufacture the object required money. Money – greenbacks and coins. It means so much to society. Whatever we do as a society depends on the value of the nation's currency. Technically, unless you're a nudist, going outside in public without the motive of buying anything still involves money because, honestly, you have to have bought the clothes you're wearing.

Sure, we should appreciate people for who they are, what they do, etc. and not on what they have. Will we remember 'Person A' because he owned a mansion up on the hill or 'Person B' who died saving three children from a house fire? The sad and pathetic truth is that most people may very well remember the mansion more and therefore 'Person A'. The other guy just gets a mention in the newspaper and make the news for every local station for the day, but that's all they'll get. Why should we care what we'll be remembered for? It seems troubling to live one's life and then leave it behind without making some sort of scar. 'Person B' scarred many people by being a true hero, but 'Person A' will always have that material constructed of wood, brick, mortar, and glass up on that hill for many people to see until the mansion falls. Will somebody remember Bill Gates because of his role in the foundation of Microsoft or because he was one of the richest guys in the world?

We can always go around preaching about how society should be less materialistic, but is that really practical? If we choose to give up the materialistic aspects of society, then we hurt ourselves. How can we prove a point that life will be better without materialistic goods when we're defying the norms of society, and therefore we're suddenly in poverty. If I said, "Yea, life is good without money, cars, and everything," and the person looks at me and sees me dirty, starving, and 'not good' in their own self-image, then I'll be nothing but a contradiction to them. The point being: you can't prove that a materialistic life will be better when society doesn't allow you to prove that point. Everything must have value, or we have nothing to live for. What's your goal in life? Get a good-paying job, get a nice house, have a loving and caring family to give birth to and raise – besides the love and family part, the rest screams "Money!" And without the motive of earning money because we won't have anything to buy, what will we do with our time? Not even time, but our lives? What really is there to live for? Can love even exist without materials? Even though we say that society would be better without the need for money, the point is that we won't have a society without the need of money. The structure that controls our life, no matter how restraining it may seem, helps us. It makes us live. It guides us into a meaningful life. If you're willing to give up all your materialistic goods, you're only harming yourself and benefitting nothing. And good luck trying to find supporters. You might as well head over to an emo nightclub, but even then, they still want materialistic goods like razors and Snoopy bandages.

In the current American recession and with the skyrocketing gas prices, the one object on everybody's mind is money. You can never have enough of it. There's always something to spend it on. However, should we look to more in life than money? Of course, but even then, to get to that spot in life, money is needed.

And with that, I leave you for the night. Have a good one.