Does money play too much of a role in our life?

Tweet

All people care about is money and what money can buy. Why does money play such a vital role in our society? The obvious answer is that we need it to buy things. I'm not saying we need to do away with money entirely. I'll try to give some examples for what I'm speaking about. The old part of my town has nice architecture and was mapped out so people could easily get to their destination. Looking at the old photographs it looks people took pride in their town and how it looked. The new side of town is full of ugly buildings that were put up in a hurry and only last a few years. Most of them are vacant because of outsourcing. They're a real eyesore to the landscape. Here we value making money over art and the aesthetics of our home. Also an example of corporations valuing money over the lives of the people of small towns. Some of the biggest role models in America our athletes. What do they teach kids though? Do they teach them hard work and determination pays off? No. Over the past couple of years steroids and free agency has been the headlines. They teach kids that you can take steroids and other muscle enhancers as long as you receive a fat paycheck. Team loyalty means nothing. All you need to care about is which team offers you the most money. Lou Gehrig believed in being a Yankee. He took it really seriously. The uniform meant something more to him. Rap music dominates the air wave now. Big companies once repulsed by the style now are opening up. They are marketing it like never before. I've heard rap songs and almost all of them involve money or other materialistic needs. No wonder why it has become popular. All American care about is money. In Western tradition, revulsion against money is seen in all forms of media from folktales, poems, novels, mythology, etc.. One such tale is that of King Midas. King Midas was offered his choice of rewards after helping Dionysus. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. Midas was happy about his gift at first. He turned a twig and stone into gold. When he tried to eat, however, his food also turned into gold. Then he started to loathe this gift. He begged Dionysus to take the power back, begging Dionysus to deliver him from starvation. Dionysus agreed and told him to wash his hands in a special river. This turned the river into gold and cured him. Midas hated wealth from then on and moved to the country to worship Pan. Pan was the god of fields, livestock, hunting, etc.. There are many morals to the story. I don't think I need to point them out. I think the recession is helping ground people. So money of us wasted and felt like the well would never dry up. Perhaps people will reject money as being their God and turn to other things. No doubt our greedy government and corporations will not do the same. To me the economy can continue to fail because then the people will go back to being people and not consumers of the lowest form. I feel bad for the people that can't feed their families but maybe they'll learn some better habits.