The Difference Between Tomato and Tomato Pasta

Happiness is what all of the the people could and should have. People set their own definition of happiness and live by it to be happy or they set up goals that will make them happy in the future. Whatever an individual's idea of happiness is, their ultimate goal is to live an enjoyable life; it is hard to find people who wishes for sadness intentionally. However, being happy truly has become something that is difficult to achieve, and this is because of how the measurement of happiness has changed to not of a feeling or emotional value, but towards more of a materialistic value. People, especially Americans’ culture has been dominated by money for so long that we began to see that money is what brings happiness in one’s life. As social gap widens, and the mobility of social class became stable, people begin to define happy people as those who rest in the upper class. So it has become inevitable to ask this question: should money be the measurement that defines Americans’ happiness?

Money is Like a TomatoIt is clear that money has a definite connection discussing about happiness. This is because it help us achieve our goals and dreams. Money “can certainly get you closer to an enjoyable life”. Finding happiness through no clothes, no food, and no shelter, and all the other necessities in life can be possible for some people, but not for the average. People need money to live their life to their expectations and meeting those expectations are where they find happiness in life. Likewise, it holds true that “wealthier people are happier than poor people. Wealthier countries are happier than poor countries. As countries get ­richer, they get happier” . Importance of money in our society is true and will be true because “society without money does not make sense in society [America] based on money”. Therefore,in whatever case it may be, money is an important ingredient that is needed in achieving one's goal and happiness. However like how the most important ingredient can not cook up a nice meal by itself, money, alone, can not cook up a delicious happiness.

Money is like a tomato in tomato pasta and it is like a mushrooms in mushroom soup. It is the most important and main ingredient when cooking the food. But even the most important ingredient can be messed up depending on who creates the food. Whether or not if that soup is going to taste good is ultimately in the chef abilities and skills. You can make money help you achieve your happiness, but money is not what makes your happiness. It is your education and your investment in learning that makes you reach the goals that you want and money is what you use to assisst you . It is ultimately your abilities that make you happy, not your money.

When the people eat tomato pasta, no one cares about the tomato, all they measure if the food is good or not is by taste; how delicious the pasta actually is. So it is actually what the money becomes that makes people happy, not the money by itself. People are mostly happy when they spend money not when they collect money . Giving the money to the charity and making donations give more satisfaction withing the people that making personal investments. “This is called ‘subjective wealth’, or how well off you feel” . By spending on others individuals self assure that they have enough money to spend on others. Another reason why donations and charity give more satisfaction than spending money all to yourself is because happiness has to do with feeling, not materials . Though many people find that they are happy when they have materials gains such as expensive cars, purses, and houses, happiness is a feeling and feelings can not be measured by materialistic goods. The warmth and the caring when people spend their money for others brings more happiness to the people. The fact that they are being meaningful to the society defines the true happiness.

Are the Desires Met?Research study has shown that the happiness is highest with the income of $75,000 a year. People’s happiness tends to decrease after this amount. This is all related to stress issues. If an individual has less than the ideal amount, he is stressed that he does not have enough to fulfill his desires. If an individual has more than the ideal amount, he is stressed of finding the money as a burden and the useless. One case is when the desires are not met and another case is when the desire are over met. It is like overeating and eating barely anything. Either way you will be more stressed than happy. It is the same with money; too much can be just as stressful as too small.

There are even cases where money is not even considered when measuring happiness. This all has to do with controlling the desires. Buddhist monks or church priest are one of the people who do not tie themselves with money and extravagance. However, the Buddhist monk such as Dalai Lama or Matthieu Ricard is one of the happiest man on this world . This is because they lowered their desires. If an individual decides to lower the desire to something that could be achieved without having any money, they can achieve happiness without using a single penny. In fact monks are “passionately setting out why meditation can alter the brain and improve people's happiness”. Before people start complaining about their position in social hierarchy and their lack of money, they should first realize how big their desires are and if any of them are actually greed that walls them from getting closer to happiness.

A New MeasurementMoney is important and money is necessary. However the difference between correlation and causation is clear. Money has a really close correlation with happiness, however it definitely does not cause happiness. After all, the ultimate measurement to define happiness is not the money, but the beating of the heart. Doing something that will make the heart beat will make you happy because the heart knows what the person likes and they can not lie. Even though it might not bring a person the wealth, if the ultimate goal of having wealth was to be happy than the goal have been reached even without the money. However, tomato pasta will always have tomatoes in it right?