dilluns, 11 de maig del 2015

what money can't buy

A while ago we listened in class to Michael Sandel's TED talk titled "what money can't buy". This intriguing exposition that turned into debate when Sandel introduced the following idea: is it good to pay students for reading books in order to enhance their interest in the subject?; left me thoughtful for several days.

As I see it, there's no point in paying children to read. Reading is a passion that grows from inside enhanced by motivations from our background: to see our family enjoying a book, to be provided the books that suit the best for us according to our age, personality and maturity, to present reading as a pleasure, not an obligation...

Going back to the general issue he was trying to introduce, "can money buy everything?" I must say I consider that unfortunately nowadays it is possible to achieve almost everything if you're affluent. Therefore, I'd like to bring in a new question: is it worth the same something achieved with money than something achieved with personal effort?

Obviously, the result is the same: you wanted something and you get something. However, from my point of view, those who achieved their goal working for it feel a great dose of reward that those who achieved it just for the sake of their fortune will lack. The lucky ones who own a great amount of money and get what they want whenever they want will probably feel unsatisfied and their desire to acquire things will only grow and grow indefinitely.

With these words I wouldn't want to lead to misunderstandings, so I have to clarify that I've got nothing against the rich. I just think that even them, should teach their children to work for things, so that they would learn that money is just a tool, an exchange value, not a goal, and that things achieved with personal effort are much more worthy than those just bought.

Let me return to our main concern, money can buy a lot of things, but not everything. We can't confuse the utility of money to exchange work for devices with the materialism we're reaching, where people tend to think that emotions, and humanity can be purchased...

Take a look to Sandel's talk and get your own conclusions.


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