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Monday, December 6, 2010

Can money buy happiness?

Well, here's a very loaded question that was suggested for an opinion piece. I will do my best not to come up with a cheap answer. This may take some time and effort to really work through.

I think I need to start by setting some ground rules for my examination. Let's start by saying that when we say "money" we are talking about more than just pieces of paper that people trade around for what they want. On the other hand, I think it is fair not to include bare necessities in out definition. I think it is far too difficult to find happiness without anything to call your own and no idea what you are going to eat.

Next let's avoid the actual question for a moment by looking at the question from a different perspective. Do you have to have money (and lots of stuff) to be happy? The answer to this question is an obvious no. You may not agree with me on this issue, but while I've had more than some people, I've never had a lot of money. Even so, I can't deny that I've been happy for a good majority of my life.

So can money buy happiness?

I think the best way to answer this is to say that, yes it is possible for money to buy happiness, however, having money does not insure that you will be happy. It works the same way with not having money. Just because you can't buy happiness, doesn't mean you can't be happy.

There's my opinion. Leave a comment if you have one.

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