MONEY AND HAPPINESS

MONEY AND HAPPINESS

Everybody aims at having a lot of money in order to be able to make all his dreams come true. People say that, generally, money brings happiness, but is it an absolute happiness?

We could say that money brings happiness but only to a certain extent: one can have almost everything he wants in matters of the latest fashion, a comfortable house, the best car and holidays in exotic places. It is very pleasant not to think that you won’t have enough money to pay your bills or to give your children for their ever day necessities. These frustrations make one feel very unlucky when he sees how others spend great amounts of money on expensive clothes or just to take dinner in a restaurant.

But on the other hand there are a lot of poor people who feel very happy only because they have a nice family, based on confidence and good communication. They consider happiness comes with love between the members of the family or with a walk in the forest on a sunny day. This makes some people understand that there are other beauties life can offer except those given by money.

However, we should not forget the fact that there are rich persons who aren’t happy because life was a little harsh with them. They have probably lost a very dear person, they have serious health problems, and they feel that they don’t have good friends, or they just feel that something misses from their lives. That’s why we can admit that sometimes money doesn’t bring complete happiness. And here we can add an interesting aspect: we can think of famous persons like singers, actors or sportsmen and women. They feel very comfortable because they have enough money to spend on whatever they want to, but at the same time they feel very harassed by external factors such as mass-media, paparazzi or even their fans. Their movements and actions are always analyzed and celebrities have to take care of their image constantly and try to avoid making mistakes.

To conclude, we can say that material success breeds happiness but not always and people should appreciate other pleasures life gives us at every instant.

Read More

MOBILE PHONES

MOBILE PHONES

Someday soon, I may be the last man in America without a cell phone. To those who see cell phones as progress, I say : they aggravate noise pollution and threaten our solitude. The central idea of cell phones is that you are connected to almost everyone and everything at all times. The trouble is that cell phones assault your peace of mind no matter what you do. If you turn them off, why have one? You just irritate anyone who might call. If they are on and no one calls, you are irrelevant, unloved or both. If everyone calls , you are a basket-case.

Of course, cell phones have productive uses. For those constantly on the road (salesmen, repair technicians and reporters), they are the godsend. The same is true for critical workers (doctors, fire fighters...) needed at a moment's notice. Otherwise benefits seem doubtful or overstated. Mobiles for teens were sold as a way for parents to keep tabs on children. That works — up to a point. The point is when your kids switch off the phones. Two of my teens have cell phones ( That was Mom's idea, she has one, too ). But. whenever I want them most, their phones are off.

Then, there is sheer nuisance. Private conversations have gone public. We've all been subjected to someone else's sales meeting, dinner reservation or dating problems. How valuable is all this chitchat? The average conversation lasts two to three minutes. Surely many could be postponed or forgotten.

Cell phones pretend to increase your freedom while actually stealing it. People so devoted to staying interconnected are kept in a perpetual state of anxiety because they may have missed some more significant memo, rendezvous, bits of news or gossip. All this is the wave of the future or. more precisely, the present. Cell phones are becoming an irresistible force, but I am determined to resist.

Read More

BRAIN DRAIN

BRAIN DRAIN

Immigration is frequently an uneven transaction. When a scientist from India or a professor from Guatemala or a physician from the Philippines moves to the U.S.A, America's gain is the native land's loss. Since few American professionals head out to settle elsewhere in the world, the redistribution of talents serves only to
widen the gap between the land of plenty and the lands of poverty. Worse still, the cycle tends to perpetuate itself : as more people leave their native country for the U. S., more are likely to leave, to join relatives or cash
in on connections or simply follow examples.

Though nothing new, the brain drain has recently seemed more than ever to be taking from the poor and giving to the rich : whereas 30 years ago most well-qualified newcomers to the U. S. arrived from Europe, now they stream in from the poorer countries of the Third World. Even among unskilled workers, the U. S. tends to
attract the most enterprising - those who are adventurous enough to quit their homes and strike out for new opportunities in America.

The first to leave are outstanding students who win admission to U. S. universities and who, not surprisingly, accept challenging jobs and high salaries in America upon their graduation. Each year, for instance, some 6,000
Taiwan Chinese arrive to study in the U. S. ; no more than 20% ever return home. Many of the top achievers at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur are snapped up by the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These students are a treasure to any country, and it is a shame that their homes
sometimes don't have the resources to nurture and hold on to them.

No less costly to Third World nations is the steady migration of well-trained professionals in search of a life, any life, in America. The wage differential between the U. S. and Mexico, for example, is 15 to 1. For many others, even poverty in the U. S. is preferable to an uneasy prosperity at home : thus lawyers and doctors from Central America may be found washing cars or working as porters in Miami hotels.

Read More