Wealth and Poverty

Like Virginia Woolf, I feel like wealth and poverty both have various effects on the mind. The sort of effect these might have may be the result of other influences, though (i.e. how the money was obtained, the extent of wealth/poverty). The extremely wealthy, who perhaps inherit their fortunes, can be very generous philanthropists. They have all the money they should ever require at their disposal, and are without a care in the world (or so they are romanticized to be). However, some who we would classify as wealthy may be very unhappy. Perhaps they attained their money through a job they dislike, and their wealth has just made them greedy for more (more money, more problems). On the flipside, some people who I would consider poor are actually quite happy. The "starving artist" we talked about in class, for instance, chose a career of passion that he knew would never make him a lot of money. We like to think that he values love above money, and is not bogged down by materialism. Unfortunately, those in extreme poverty may have money on the mind all the time, because they are desperate for it. If they are scraping to get by, their lack of money can be a huge hindrance on their happiness. Basically, I think that the amount of money people have DOES affect them, but it is not the only factor.