深圳大学 赖小琪

What is happiness? Can money be the measuring standard for happiness? Viewpoints vary from individual to individual. Nowadays, maybe being affected by all kinds of books or articles which strongly advocate that happiness is a state of mind, a condition of mood and a sense of ourselves, many people, especially the students, often compose some articles that intensively claim happiness can still thrive under desperate poverty. As far as I see, those who compose such kind of essays without undergoing a given amount of twists and turns are really ignorant. They have no qualification to assert such kind of claims with their tender mouths.

Undoubtedly, I admit there were numerous people who can seek happiness though they were extremely needy everlastingly. They could totally overlook their extremely poor surroundings and perceive satisfaction that other folks could not. But comparing the number of these people to the total mount of human beings, the proportion is considerably tiny. More often than not, most poor people cannot manage to find the least pleasure due to their poverty. They have to concern about their bread and milk, not to mention their children's schooling. A lot of poor people, instead of hunting for happiness from poor conditions, are suffering greatly without the slightest hope to survive. Maybe you would think it unbelievable. But it does stand every corner of the world even in the developed countries, let alone in the underdeveloped areas like Africa. In Africa, most people's basic need is not happiness, but to survive. Survival is the acquired condition to many of us, but in those poor areas, it is not that story. Numerous people die every year owing to the infection of some deadly diseases and the lack of money. They have no money for medical treatment. Even they have sufficient money, they cannot receive the up-to-date treatment because of the poor medical facilities and conditions in their countries. Some of the diseases are normal and can be totally cured with proper treatment. But the patients' families have to witness them dying at home because of the failure to afford treatment. For some relatively well-off families, they are still feeling worried about their future living conditions. Maybe their money can sustain the normal life presently, but who knows what will happen tomorrow? They have to feel stiff concerned about some accidental deadly disease, unemployment, children's increasing tuition, etc. Once one of these occurs, their normal life will be broken down and even paralyzed! Hence, happiness seems a luxury to them.

However, it is quite different to the wealthy people. Needless to say, a lot of wealthy people are feeling lonely and unhappy even miserable. But however unhappy they are, they are out of the worries about bread and milk, failure to afford treatment, children's schooling and so on. Once they get troubles, they can feel more composure with the backing up of money than those needy. In other words, they need not worry about their basic living. All the need to do is to adjust their mindset and fit it in to a state of pleasure.

Now we go back to the poor again. They even have no chance to fit their mindset into the state they want regardless of making a living. Their living may be menaced and they have to move mountain and earth to survive. Yes, all they need is to survive, not spiritual enjoyment. Now I dare come to the conclusion that in most cases, wealth does not mean happiness, but poverty may probably mean misery!

Definitely, we need to cultivate an optimistic attitude towards life. Those books I mention above are actually trying to achieve this aim and instruct us not to surrender even if we are in face of extremes. But they have done too much. They have formed a trend that more and more youngsters are casually writing those articles and boasting happiness can be easily acquire under poverty! In my opinion, insightful wisdom can only be acquired and internalized through some impressive experiences. But let's have a look at the students nowadays. How many of them have actually gone through poverty? How many of them have undergone some fateful setbacks? How many of them have suffered some unforgettable difficulties and actually learnt a lesson? The answer is few! But look at the amount of the students loudly and publicly boasting about their great view of life. It may be incredibly large. Do you think they truly understand what they are saying? I am afraid not. Most of the time they are just following books and writers. How pathetic!

The relationship of happiness and wealth has been debated by an ocean of people. Now I am writing this article not only to clarify my point on this topic, but also to point out a grave issue among lots of students. Writing needs our true experiences and delicate observation and piercinginsight in the target we are studying. Following will never bear any innovative and creative fruits but repeat others' views constantly! Only through critical and independent thinking can we truly construct our own system of values.
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