122. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People are never satisfied with what they have; they always want something more or something different. Use specific reasons to support your answer.
The old saying “there is no limit on one’s greed” still rings true. Indeed our desire for accumulating more and more fortune is accelerating. Many people mistakenly believe that they can not find the value of themselves anymore in the world of materialism and try to learn how to dispossess materials. While it is true that some people are trying to learn how to get satisfied with themselves, most people are striving to achieve more and more because of the happiness it accompanies and the safety of property protection that is offered by the government.
As long as the happiness is concerned, it is mostly proportional to the material that we own. In other words, there is intimate relationship between happiness and the material possession. To illustrate this point, a recent research has conducted a series of poll regarding the relationship between material wealth and happiness. According to the research, there was obviously positive relationship between salary and harmony within a family. It revealed that at least 65% of disharmony within a family is due to financial matters. In this respect we can not disregard the contribution of money toward happiness.
In most of the cases, except for communism countries, we get the governments’ protection on our properties. Compared to the past when there was not such thing as property law, people nowadays feel it pays off to work hard and earn more. It is not as though I am working for the country and for others, it is that I am working for myself and for my family and the work effort is stored in the forms of material possession. In short, our democratic social structure has led to people want more.
Finally, in this rapidly changing world, we simply can not progress just by maintaining the current possession. Desire for more is not the only case in terms of money, it also hold true in terms of knowledge prosperity. To demonstrate, I will give you a personal example. My friend Bob who is working for a major law firm always seeks to improve everything around him. He tries to have deeper friendship, more knowledge, better housing and so forth. From the moment he was employed to the law firm, he continuously studied to get accounting certificates, finance management certificates and so on to make his own image in the firm as an eager beaver. Now he has become firm’s major committee. In contrast my friend John who didn’t pursue academic progress since graduating university once got into one of the major law firms in Korea, but lives on hand to mouth nowadays after he was fired.
It is true that not everyone is trying to live up to their maximum, just like the people in underdeveloped countries. However as illustrated above, most of people are not pleasant with the possession they own. For most people, they crave for more as it can lead to their lives happier, and their belongings get the protection officially. As the world is becoming more competitive, people would want to appropriate more and more materials and knowledge.