In this day and age, worldwide economic progress has raised standards of living throughout the world. Naturally, such progress inevitably breeds feelings of envy and jealousy, and people all over the world are overcome with a desire to become rich or richer than their neighbors. This is a trap of misery. In fact, I believe that people who fall in love with money inevitably live in misery, irrespective of how they may use their financial resources, including any so-called philanthropic endeavors.
First, it is important to acknowledge the age-old saying, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” I have seen many examples of this throughout my career. For example: During my tenure as an accountant at a corporation whose leadership was obsessed with and loved money, and they were willing to do whatever it takes to make the company books look good. They lied to investors, they cheated their employees, and they hid information about product performances. Their objective was to increase the company stock price through lies, deceptions, and the concealment of information as well as disinformation and misinformation about their products and services. What these people did was evil, because they hurt participants, including investors, employees, and vendors, to name a few. When it became increasingly clear to me what the leadership was doing was evil, I resigned from my job, for I was unwilling to take part in their evil deeds. Indeed, the door is opened for evil if and when you begin to fall in love with money, as this love affair with money ultimately breeds envy, jealousy, and more evil.
Second, it is imperative to understand that the definition of a good life varies from person to person. For me, a good life is a life that is characterized by honesty and integrity in the pursuit of one’s passion. Whether that passion eventually brings wealth or not is not an issue for me, because I would rather die poor or face financial hardship yet maintain integrity than gain wealth through lies and deceptions. For example, I am currently developing a website to teach English. Although this website has not proven to be financially successful, I will continue to pour the little money that I have as well as my heart into this project. Yet, I have no regret, because the road that I am travelling on is a journey full of opportunities to express my creativity and passion to teach English and create something that the world does not yet have. Irrespective of its financial return, this website has actually helped me to teach English in ways that bring beautiful results to my IELTS, TOEIC, and Cambridge students. For sure, I would rather die trying to complete this website than working for evil people who are obsessed and in love with money so much that they have no qualm about harming other people.
In conclusion, while the aspiration to accumulate wealth is not wrong, something is definitely evil about a person when he or she puts money above all else. To these people, money is the end. But for me, money is a means, not the end.