Does Money Equal Happiness?

During our Harkness discussion today, a few classmates brought up the point of money today, becoming Big Brother. After giving this some thought, I can definitely see it happening in our world. In the novel 1984, Big Brother is portrayed as “God”, the thing that dominated and influenced everyone’s lives. Nowadays, money is becoming closer and closer to “God”. We depend on money. We envy those with more than us. We are hungry for money. Why do we try hard in school? Why do we take honors and AP classes? To get into a good college. Why do we pay $30-80k a year for college? To get a good job. Why do we work hard at our job? To get a promotion and perhaps retire a little earlier. This is considered a successful path in life. But what is considered success? Success is money. Success is happiness. Designer products bring us “happiness”. Big, nice houses bring us “happiness”. Long, exotic vacations bring us “happiness”. But it isn’t permanent. When your Gucci bag tears, you are no longer happy. When you come back from your 2 week trip in Mexico, you are no longer happy. Obviously, we need money to survive. If we don’t have a home or necessities to live, we would not be very happy. Money can bring us that sort of comfort and safety, but only up to a certain point. After buying things essential for living, that is pretty much as far as money goes for permanent happiness. However, one thing we can have that citizens of Oceania couldn’t, is love. I believe love is the one thing that can truly make us happy, which is why it was banned in the novel. We can still be happy when we don’t have a tan and a fruity drink in our hand, if we are with loved ones. We need to stop idolizing money and focus on what can really bring us happiness: love.