Moola, moola, moola.
Moola is fun. People work for moola. They spend countless years in school to get jobs that will earn a lot of moola. They marry for moola. Like Jordy Birch said, "if you have moola everything is good and everybody’s your friend." Apparently, even though the age-old saying goes "money can’t buy you happiness," most people seem to disagree.
However, if money can buy you happiness, then what exactly is happiness? Never ending hours at the office? Sounds fun. How about the eternal company of a partner you could never fall in love with? Exciting. How about a million friends that mooch off you non-stop? Marvelous! Money is clearly the way to fulfillment. If only we could all be rich!
But maybe this is a slight exaggeration: money isn’t exactly something everyone can do without. Even a mediocre social life requires at least a little funding, and a little shopping binge never hurt anyone. It’s when money is a goal, overshadowing all other aspects of life, that it becomes an unfortunate tool of power. Happiness becomes distorted by selfishness.
Take the Kyoto Accord, for example. In the light of probable economic loss, the improvement of the environment has taken a back seat for many businesses. Rather than support a program that will cut back harmful greenhouse gases saving the Earth today and money tomorrow, businesses gave first priority to their bank accounts and did just the opposite. While the federal government opted to help the environment despite the controversial debate regarding the country’s financial future, there has been more than a little opposition to their decision.
Like those opposed to the Kyoto Accord, many are so centred on the benefits of money that they lose sight of the bigger picture, always concerned first and foremost with their own happiness. This is somewhat understandable, but there are plenty of happy people out there without any money at all. It makes sense that those of us with the good fortune to have a little extra cash should do what we can to help others. We should do it happily, knowing there are always people who have less than we do–who are happy with or without moola.
One day soon, we at university will hopefully have our degrees. We’ll be out there finding real jobs, and for once, earning real money. Families and houses, RRSPs and vacations in Florida are in store. Right now we don’t have much, living the humble life of poor students at the mercy of tuition and the Den. However, although we complain, we’re all having a pretty good time despite our momentary lack of moola. Maybe Jordy Birch was a little off, for it seems that even without money, everything is pretty good and most of us have lots of friends.