Does Money Really Make the World Go Round?

Money is classified through a plastic card, some heavy coins and a piece of paper with a design on it. Physically worthless, but some of the most powerful objects in the world through the simple purpose and meaning assigned to them. Does something with no real value actually ‘make the world go round?’

Words and Design: Tash Hughes

From a young age, money has always been the driving influence on how we act. From completing chores for pocket money, to getting your first job to earn cash for independence, everything we work towards is for money. In primary school each year started with the same question: “So, what do you want to be when you’re older?”. It started out easy. You could be anything you wanted. ‘ A Princess’, ‘A Mum’, ‘An ice cream maker’ and ‘An actress’, were a few of my own. As the years went by, the jobs started becoming more realistic. Not realistic to what I could achieve: realistic to the sort of money I could live off. ‘A nurse’. ‘A Drama Therapist’. ‘A lawyer’. These ‘dream jobs’ were not dreams. They were reality. They were jobs that could keep me and a future family afloat. Through the years the ‘dreams’ got less wild, the reality was that I needed a stable job even if that meant I wasn’t following my dreams or doing something I loved. Money became the over-powering factor. If it didn’t earn enough, I would be steered clear. This leads on to the ultimate question. What’s more important? Money or happiness.

Benjamin Franklin once said “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” This suggests that whilst money and the ‘things’ you can acquire with it may make you temporarily happy, you will never be satisfied. Instead of these ‘things’ building up and making you happier as this collection grows, it will instead fall down and destroy you and everything attached. Interestingly, this same historical figure is pictured on the US 100 dollar note.

Money equals greed. You are never happy with what you have. You always want more. Money gives us humans something to work towards, something to guide how we spend our lives. The functionality of money is simple, if you don’t have it you live an unhappy life and cannot afford to actually survive. It’s as basic as it sounds. But what would happen if money didn’t exist? If there was no judgement with the amount of money or shiny things you owned. If your place in the world wasn’t determined by a number in a bank account. First of all, nothing would get done. No one would run shops, hospitals, public transport, the list is endless. The world would be a mess. It’s highly unlikely that people would work 5 days a week, 10 hours a day for nothing; just simply out of the kindness of their heart. As brutal as it sounds, people aren’t that nice.

Money does make the world go round. We live, work and die. We work for money, but through this we are helping others because each job adds to the world. No matter howbig or small. Whilst this is factual, it shouldn’t be the case.

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.

Happiness, giving and building and forming relationships should insteadmake the world go round. It does, in some cases: A couple decides to havechildren, then they have children, and they have children - it keeps theworld going round, but only to a certain extent. An extent that endswhen someone realises they cannot afford to have a child, they cannotafford to live. The line ends, and the over-ruling reason is money.

Money is evil. The drive and greed for money takes real human emotions awayand in most cases drives others away. Money is like a drug. Once you haveenough and get a taste for it, you can’t stop. You always want more. Whilst this isuseful and helpful in businesses and creates a high standard to upkeep, it can bedetrimental in relationships. Money can achieve happiness, but at a very high price.

A new topic: sugar daddies. I’m sure you’ve heard of this questionable termbefore. A ‘Sugar Daddy’ is defined as ‘a wealthy, usually older man whogives money or gifts to a younger person in return for sexual favours orcompanionship.’ Most of the time ‘sexual favours’ are not involved, and the lonelyman simply wants to feel youthful. But what drives women to agree to such anunusual exchange? Money. Whilst the aim is to simply build a relationship, thedriving force is money, the same with the majority of other worldly situations.

Think about it. You wake up. Why? To go to work in order to earn money. You pickup some milk. You exchange this for money in order to survive. You end your dayat the pub followed by a Taylor Swift concert. Those beers and that ticket cost.Your enjoyment and happiness costs because the entirety of the world has a pricetag. Money can’t buy everything, no - but it sure does help. In this generation,there should be more of a drive than money, people should have a drive becausethey are passionate. They may have nothing, but if they are creative to workwith nothing and achieve happiness at the same time, then they can live. Peopleshould be living life to live life and to be happy. Genuinely happy. But no one is.

The world isn’t perfect, we aren’t perfect but the sad reality is thatmoney does make the world go round. It shouldn’t, but it does.It should go round because of us, as humans, as individuals and the love, passionand energy we share. In order to save the world before the greediness andthirst for money become too much, this needs to change. We need to change.