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For Love or Money

Just the other day, I saw commercials about a new TV show. The show was called Joe Millionaire, and it made me think about how obsessed with money some people can actually be.

Joe Millionaire is about an “average Joe” who makes $19,000 a year by working as a construction worker and has 20 women competing for his love and affection. The only catch is that all 20 women were told that he had just inherited $50 million, when in reality, he hadn’t. In the end, the truth will have to be revealed and the relationship will last only if it was truly based on love, and not love of the bachelor’s money.

In today’s society, just about everything revolves around money, because we live in a deeply materialistic world. And let’s face it, it’s true what people say about money not growing on trees and how there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything of value comes with a price, and everyone knows it.

But just how did our world become so money-oriented? Was it always this way? In my opinion, everything starts out at one point, and so did people’s desire to have it all. At one time, humans must have had to work with one another and share, because their lives depended on it.

As cultures and technology began to develop, more and more people had to learn how to make it on their own and become more independent, leading them to work harder and harder to support themselves, even if they hurt others in the process.

For example, I still remember the stories my parents used to tell me when I was young. The stories were about other family members — mostly cruel, senseless gossip about inheriting money, about Uncle Jimmy planning to take all the money, about how Aunt Janice only married him for his money and how the money rightfully belonged to our family.

Although I was still too young to understand most of what they were saying, I had a strong feeling that it was wrong. However, I never dared to argue with them. My parents raised me with morals and taught me to respect others, even those who wronged you, and then I watched them go against their very own words right in front of me.

The money and gossip caused our family’s relationship to slowly disintegrate, when it could have been avoided in many ways.

There are many things that are far more important than money, but nobody ever sees it that way. I agree that although love and compassion alone won’t put a roof over your heads and food on your plates, they are essential. Life wouldn’t be worth living without it.