Doescontemporarysocietygaugeone'sachievementsmerelyaccordingtohowmuchmoneyonepossesses?Oraretherealternativemeanstodeterminewhetheroneissuccessfulornot?Personally,IagreewiththelatterthoughIconcedethatmoneydoesaccountforsomething.
Admittedly,successwouldbeastraightforwardmatterifitisentirelybasedonmonetaryterms,Andmoneydoesprovidevariousconvenienceswhichrenderlifemuchmorecomfortable.Noonecandenythatapoverty-strickenlifemostlyisnotasuccessfulone.However,moneyisbynomeanstheonlydevicetocalibrateone'sachievements.Therearemanywealthypeoplewhoarealsoselfishandevenunscrupulous;theyaccumulatetheirwealthbyexploitingothersorthroughotherdeviousmeans.Incontrast,therearealsoalargenumberofpeoplewhohavemadeasignificantcontributiontosocietyeventhoughtheyarenotallthatrich.Furthermore,ifoursocietycondonesthenotionthatmoneyisofparamountimportanceandshouldbeobtainedattheexpenseofintegrity,honestyandothertime-honouredvalues,thenmoralcorruptionisinevitablewhichwillresultindireconsequences.
Insummarygranted,moneyisimportantandevenconstitutesacrucialelementofoursociety.Yet,successentailsamyriadofdifferentaspectsandshouldbegaugednotsolelybyone'smonetarypossessions.(218words)