::Money as an Ideal::

        You know the famous saying, ‘money does not buy you happiness’? It’s a cliché but it’s totally true. Last Friday, I went to my sociology class and I actually stayed for the whole lecture. It’s a 3-hour lecture and I normally leave halfway through because I get bored and would rather sleep in my warm and cozy bed on a Friday morning. But that day, the topic was about money and I decided to stay because I knew it would be something that would interest me.
         The professor asked some students the question, “why are you in university”? A girl responded, and said “Because of money”. Then he asked other students, they answered the same thing. However, I thought to myself, I am in university because I want to gain knowledge. Education does indeed open more opportunities or doors to for many people. It provides you knowledge and problem-solving skills to make your way to becoming a millionaire, for example. But is that really why it’s such a big deal going to school? According to our society, it is; it’s all because of societal norms. In reality, there’s an unwritten law that we must all conform to the norms within our society. But what about those people who don’t even have the opportunity to attend school or university?
         It’s funny how people become so caught up with the idea that going to college guarantees you to earn big bucks. But if we’re only going to school for money, we can simply all quit school and get a job that could make us millionaires somewhere else. They can be legal or illegal… For instance, we can all become drug dealers and earn a lump sum of cash right away, or if we don’t want minimum wage, we can be strippers and earn $700 a night, right? Now is there something wrong with that, when all we really want is money? Yeah, again these things are against custom traditions, etcetera, etc.
            I understand not everyone is the same, we all have different values, beliefs and cultures that we follow, but we share a commonality and that is, we always hold on to the norms within our society. Now, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, but norms are becoming downplayed to the extent in which, people like me don’t even care anymore.
           When talking about money, some people get this idea that money is everything. I do admit, I used to think that way as well. I would dream about having the nicest and luxurious things that other people had because I thought having them would make me the best. But my experience in high school changed my perception of money. When I was in high school in Brussels, I learned something very significant about class stratification. I don’t know if it was because of the school I attended but when I look back in that school, it didn’t matter whether you were rich, middle class or upper-middle class. It’s so sad that some people in many places treat money as God to the extent in which, the rich and the poor can no longer co-exist because they’re two very different classes. Big deal eh, but for me I’ve experienced and seen all walks of life and that notion is absolute crap.
            In high school, I was surrounded by extremely rich people with big reputations.  I tell yah, I felt so poor in that school. Little did I know, I used to sit next to the grandson of the founder of Toyota Motors in biology class, or played field hockey with Nicholas Burn’s daughter [the current under-secretary of state for political affairs in the US] Or have the grandson of Enrique Bolaños [the president of Nicaragua] attend the same school as me. You know what, all these things didn’t matter, there was no class division or whatever; people didn’t give a damn about your money or reputation. What mattered most was who you were as a person and how you got along with others. I know that in many Third World countries [I’m a poli-scie major and I know I shouldn’t be using that term, but I will, to make a point] class is everything but people should abandon that perception and start thinking that money is just an ideal. 

Uncategorized |