“Money is a good servant but a bad master “
In present day materialistic world, money has become very powerful. The present day corruption , cut throat competition, callous degradation of moral and ethical values , are all for the sake of grabbing and accumulating more and more money. The prestige, respect, social status, commanded by a person is calculated as per his monetary status. Time has gone, when people were moralistic. The whole world is operating on a simple principle “You scratch my back and I scratch yours “. Besides money we have no reason left to help the mankind. We are shallow because we have become enslaved by gross materialism, the glitter of gold and its equivalents, for which reason we think that only the material good of this earth can satisfy us and we must therefore grab as much as we can while we are able. People were earlier known for keeping their words, for donating everything to a donee. Now, people are known in terms of their ranking in the list of rich of the world. Money has become the epicentre of all activities. Thus we are heading towards money governed universe.
No doubt, money is an essential, almost indispensable article in the present day world. It is the money through which we can purchase all the necessary comforts and amenities of life. If you have money, you can obtain what seems impossible to others. It is the money which gives a man, confidence, credit, worthiness, credentials, capacity, capabilities and courage. But is it the only reason why God has sent us on this beautiful Earth created by him? We have been offered a golden chance to discover new places, people, to share, spread and get love from others. To establish a strong relation with people especially family. Inner happiness obtained by exchanging love with people and that from money are the two extremes of a thread. The gigantic difference between the two that can easily end this debate is that one is short lived and other is evergreen.
The rich, that owns lots of money, still crave for earning more and more, by hook or by crook, with fair and foul means, without caring even for their own health or own family. A time comes when they find themselves unable to use the money for their happiness. Such people are no better than the proverbial miser king ‘Midas’. Those who use money for fulfilling their necessities, acquiring reasonable comforts and for the welfare of a common well are the masters of money. They are the most unfortunate creatures of God who know well that whatever money they are earning, they can’t take iota of that with them when they die. What a paradox! Perhaps the reason so many rich, powerful and famous people descend into drugs and alcoholism is that deep down inside they sense the things they have are really very empty and temporal- a vain chasing after the wind. They experience disappointment after having acquired these things and go into denial that they still are not fulfilled at peace. So, they must put up an act and pretend that having these things is some sort of accomplishment and it really means something. So, the game goes on, the act perpetuates itself and the more money and fame they get, the emptier they feel. Money will buy you a bed, clock, book, position, medicine, blood but what it won’t buy you is sleep, time, knowledge, respect, health or life , the things you really need to live a life full of lasting happiness. On the other hand you can see poor huddled together to keep warm and sharing what little they have to survive, that’s love, which brings about happiness.
So is it unfortunate to be a rich person or is it a crime to earn tons of money which very few people can earn? A big NO. Money is the outcome of our hard work and there is nothing wrong in enjoying the luxuries with our own cash but the problem lies in the way and purpose of earning money. Ignoring family, relatives, friends, society, our health just for hording money seems totally absurd.
The last words of Alexander the Great “Bury my body, do not build any monument, and keep my hands outside so that the world knows the person who won the world had nothing in his hands when dying “concludes that even a great conqueror who could amass wealth to his best and earned name, fame and respect, too, was not happy at the end.