Young Writers Society

If you had to ask me, I'd rather be poor than rich. To explain my point, consider this:

If you give one hundred dollars to a rich man, how will he react?
He's rich, what does he care? If anything, the money will be collecting dust in a bank safe somewhere downtown.

If you give the same amount of money to a poor man, how will he react?
This is the first time he's ever had this much money. He will be very thankful and use the money to buy food and stuff to make him and his family happy.

Life's treasures are most precious to someone who has nothing, because he is always hoping for a better tomorrow. But, what good does life's treasures do if you have everything? If you have everything, you will lose your values and begin to believe that you are better than everyone else.

When you get right down to it, sometimes the happiest people in the world are those who come home everyday smelling up to high heaven, and the most miserable people in the world are those whose office is at the top of a 30 story building. So, just think about that next time you buy that lottery ticket.

Philisophical, hon.

I would rather be rich, because it would be an indication that I had become successful in my career, and it would allow me to provide for my children, to help others in need, and to improve the quality of the world around me.

That being said, I would be happy either way.

I'd also rather be rich than poor. While what you said about people recieving $100, I'd much rather be the one giving it to them than recieving it.

I have to agree. Given the choice, of course I'd rather be well off. Because yes, I admit, I do relate somewhat to the materialistic society we live in in that I like to be comfortable and I like to have nice things. And I think that many (note: many - not all) people would actually feel the same, unless that kind of thing, and success, as Bobo said, included, means nothing to them. Or unless you're simply a martyr
Although, having said that, I don't believe money is all. But you know that quote, "Money can't make you happy"? - I think that completely depends on the kind of person you are. It makes some people very happy, because it means that they can have the things they want, provide for their family, and live the kind of life which they aspire to. And who's to say that you will be happy without money?
If I fell in love with someone and we ended up with very little money, I wouldn't care so much. But there are so many people who are poor who don't have that, or anything else, and actually, all they want is money. This is a misconception throughout the world concerning money - there's a very fine line as to how much it's necessary to have, and how much it's simply rather vulgar to have. And how happy you are, I believe, has very little to do with that.
And you have to remember that, however much you hate the fact, as I do, money is what makes the world go round. Not love or anything else. It's very difficult, ny impossible, to live with no money whatsoever.

Dynamo, old boy, you're looking at this from the wrong angle.

If I were to give a poor man £100, he'd be happy with me.
But if I were to give £100 to a millionaire, it wouldn't be anything special (small change).

However, if I were to give that same millionaire £5 million, then he'd be happy.
If I were to give the poor man 10p, it wouldn't be anything special.

It's all a matter of what you're used too. The rich can be just as supprised and happy as the poor. It just requires different amounts (but the probablity of recieving the correct amount is, actually, roughly the same - simply due to the well known fact that money breeds money).

isn't it better when ppl are jealous of you instead of being sorry?
I think money is something that goes round like in a circle of life, happiness is something you can find and feel anytime.
Having a good payed job or not, you need to buy and lose and get. Money has to land somewhere, either here or there. Like sureal meant, I think?
I'd rather be wiser and get the money I deserve and use it the best way I can think of.
Being rich and thinking you're better than everyone else... That depends on their childhood and how they've been brought up... Money is part of power. Power is education. Happiness is somewhere to be find in education...
Now I'm off topic... never mind me...

I have a lot of points for YWS. I could buy a car with them if they were dollars! Even so, there was this one time that somebody sent me a total of two points. I was so tickled pink that someone sent me two points that I sent two hundred to him.

It doesn't have to work that way that the rich are unforgiving and unmerciful.

As far as dollars... if I worked that hard to get that much money with all the taxes and other stuff associated with them, I want to keep as much as I can.

Yo richo! :hearts_eyes:
I remember the time I received 200 points absolutely from nowhere...from you. I had about a 300 points then and felt those were God-sent.
For money, I don't have 100$. But if I were to give a poor man my weekly allowance that would make ME feel good more than it would make the poor man. So, I'd prefer to have the money than to have nothing at all.

I would rather have enough. Not too much, nor too little.

And Bobo, having a lot of money is no true indication of success. My mother is a very successful teacher in a much needed BD/ED elementary school program, and she doesn't make nearly enough money. My dad makes more, but I know he'd bee happier writing music and playing his guitar. So, who is more sucessful? The woman who works hard for little thanks and less pay, but loves her job and is dedicated to her students, or the man who works a lucrative job he hates?

Thankyou for posting your thoughts about this.

Remember, your thoughts and your theories are your own. No one else can tell you whats right or wrong.

Yes, they can, Dynamo--they're just not necessarily right.

And Gal, I'm saying that in reference to my own situation specifically. The kind of career I get into is one where money probably will indicate success. In any case, you're 100% right that money is no true indication of success at all. As for which parent is more successful, I think that both are successful--one is living in a career she feels good about, and the other is able to provide for his family better than some other jobs could provide. If he's anything like you, Gal, I think he'd care more about being able to help his family than about his own desires.

The future never exists. "I'll do it tomorrow" is a lie. Tomorrow never comes.

You can't appreciate a better future because of a good today. The rich man, assuming he followed the Capitalist schema, already suffered through the trials and tribulations (and consequently learned how to appreciate what he received) of the poor man. I'd much rather be the rich man, than the poor.

The poor rely on the future of revolution; they are an immobile class in politics, and are held there by political leaders. It is the bourgeois who hold power. While I am all for a radical Marxist revision of Politics today, that isn't going to happen. At least one of the better advantages to the current (enslaving) system is that everyone is a part of it, and thus everyone must emit the same signals, which will not be read in too variant of ways, by all people.

I have no problem being a cog in a system.