Money

People who say, "Money doesn't matter," are part of one or more of these cohorts:

1) the delusional,
2) the rich,
3) the enlightened buddhas of this world,
4) the nuns,
5) other religious figures who have truly reached a state of peace,
6) other religious figures who secretly reel in the dough through their corrupt institutions,
7) indigenous tribes, or
8) other people who live within economic systems that don't use money (maybe they barter instead).


Note that, other than genuine religious figures or people of different economic systems, people who actually have no money are not listed.

Do homeless people beg you to have no money either, or for you to give them money (or things that money can buy, such as food, shelter, etc.)?

To my privileged classmates who have always had a roof over their head and a Beamer in their garage, it's cute that you criticize me for not being a 'true intellectual' because I am 'chickening out' and not pursuing the 'life of the mind.' I can very well give myself "mental masturbation" (in my professor's most erudite words) with Kant after a hard day's work. Like most people who are just as smart and usually more mature than you, I can't afford to do it all day for my goal, and that's my reality.

[That is, until you hit $75k/year. Then yeah, more money doesn't matter... kinda. Well, for me at least.]

/endrant

P.S. I'd love to compare happiness levels of countries later on. Fun tidbit from above article:

• "...Americans come out as a bit of a mixed lot: they're fifth in terms of happiness, 33rd in terms of smiling and 10th in terms of enjoyment. At the same time, they're the 89th biggest worriers, the 69th saddest and fifth most stressed people out of the 151 nations studied. Even so, perhaps because of the country's general wealth, they are in the top 10 citizenries where people feel their lives are going well, beaten out by such eternal optimists as the Canadians, New Zealanders and Scandinavians."