“There is the constant pressure from our materialistic society to get nice cars, big TV’s, and brand-name clothes. So, what if we can’t afford the nicest cars and other items? We can now use financing and credit cards to get thrown deep into debt,” Michael*, a financial consultant from Northeastern Pennsylvania said.
He said people are forced to work longer hours and get multiple jobs to pay off their debt. The expensive products create stress and lead to family problems, including verbal and physical abuse, he said.
Americans are overworked and recognize the need for reduced job hours, but are addicted to spending money, he said.
Michael said he has difficulty juggling his high-pressure job with a personal life, yet still insists on creating time for his family and friends.
“There should always be time to try to relax and cool off after tough days, and I consider it imperative to do so,” he said.
He said that people need to recognize that work correlates with their family and friends, and it is important to balance work with a social life.
Kristen Randall, 22, of Rumson, New Jersey is a recent college graduate at the beginning of her career. She said she has minimal expenses at this stage in her life and works 40 hours each week. Randall said she would need an additional job if she had more bills to pay.
“A lot of Americans need to work overtime because they have minimum wage jobs and these jobs don’t pay enough for them to make a living,” she said.
Long work hours lend little time for leisure, which Randall said is an essential aspect of a person’s overall health. She said that people who repeatedly work overtime are too tired to exercise or spend time with family members.
“When a person doesn’t have enough time to relax or participate in activities that they are interested in, they tend to be in a bad mood and take less care of themselves,” Randall said.
She said that households with two working parents are sometimes forced to send their children to daycare, where they sacrifice quality time together and lose some control in raising their children.
“If people are sacrificing a great deal because of their job, they are probably more likely to be unhappy. They may be tired and stressed out. This makes them less likely to be productive, pleasant employees,” Randall said.
Daljinder Mann, a sales employee in Somerville, MA, attributed Americans’ increased working hours to the rising cost of living.
Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine.
“In the last twenty years the amount of time Americans have spent at their jobs has risen steadily. Each year the change is small, amounting to about nine hours, or slightly more than one additional day of work (Schor, 1). Juliet B. Schor’s The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure explores the decline of leisure time in American professionals and laborers as a result of an increase in working time. In comparison to our European counterparts, American workers are now working close to 320 more hours yearly. Schor highlights the fact that American workers are choosing to work multiple jobs contributing to less leisure time due to longer working hours. In conclusion the book depicts the idea that the materialistic nature of Americans results in them choosing to work more so that they can spend more.
Modern day American capitalism is founded on the concept of credit. Credit, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “ Confidence in a purchaser’s ability and intention to pay,displayed by entrusting the buyer with goods or services without immediate payment,” (Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from Dictionary.com website). This pent up credit is what causes consumer debt to swallow individuals whole, robbing them of their financial security. This consumer debt, defined as “ Money owed by individuals, generally for goods or services that they have purchased,” has become a norm among our society (Consumer Debt. (2010). The reason as to why consumer debt is becoming a prime concern for Americans is the inability to make payments, predation of citizens by credit card companies, and how immediate relief leads to disastrous long term results.
An example of financial obligations causing stress, the college professor with 47 years of experience, a Doctorates degree, and a debt-free life drives a 2016 Cadillac; it is not abnormal for some college student, with a significantly lower income, to purchase that same 2016 Cadillac. The difference is the professor can afford four 2016 Cadillacs without a financial struggle; however, the college student is contemplating suicide because he or she does not know how their car note is going to be paid and they have final exams the following week. According to American Psychological Association about three-quarters of the American society are experiencing high volumes of financial stress. Debt in America is becoming accustomed, so when a one income household wants a new car they get a loan; but, this loan has to be paid back in a term of maybe 60 to 72 months and with interest. Some people try to plan smartly for large purchases, but it is impossible to see the future; if disaster strikes, the household is in turmoil, and the stress of a financial obligation sets in. Financial stress is a leading cause of stress in America; individuals that create debt and do not establish emergency savings are high risk for extreme financial
The overriding theme of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare deals with the nature of love. Though true love seems to be held up as an ideal, false love is mostly what we are shown. Underneath his frantic comedy, Shakespeare seems to be asking the questions all lovers ask in the midst of their confusion: How do we know when love is real? How can we trust ourselves that love is real when we are so easily swayed by passion and romantic conventions? Some readers may sense bitterness behind the comedy, but will probably also recognize the truth behind Shakespeare's satire. Often, love leads us down blind alleys and makes us do things we regret later. The lovers within the scene, especially the men, are made to seem rather shallow. They change the objects of their affections, all the time swearing eternal love to one or the other. In this scene Shakespeare presents the idea that both false love and true love can prevail..
Buddhism is one of the worlds major religions with 300 million followers around the world. Buddhism has many beliefs, tradition, and practices based on teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is a religion that doesn't involve in having a belief in a God or Gods. many people believe Buddhism is a way of life or a philosophy. Buddhists believe that Buddha is not God and he didn't say he was God, but he was a man that taught people the path to enlightenment that he learned from his own experience. Many believe that Buddhists worship statues of the Buddha, but by bowing to the Buddha statue they are paying their respect and expressing their gratitude for his teachings. There are also different types of Buddhism because it changes from country to country do to different cultures and customs. Buddhism is believed to originate in northern India in 563 BC. It is also believed that the traditions of Buddhism was taught by Siddhartha Gautama also called the Buddha meaning the enlightened one or awakened. Siddhartha Gautama was born to a rich family in Lumbini India. When Siddhartha Gautama reac...
An untold amount of people tear apart at the seams because the tension is too much. The rest of the people have different versions of the same problem. People try to juggle work and family, but find themselves in a state of confusion where priorities become blurred. Is getting a high salary more important than having dinner with family?
“Proper society did not think about making money, only about spending it.”, said Barbara W. Tuchman. This quote shows our real world, and the people that spend money, but they forget about the value of money. Nowadays people want more that they have. They forget how many things they have, and how much money they spend. Most people when they see other people having something better, and in that moment they want to have it also. Also, people forget how hard they got that money, but how easily and quickly they spend it. In the article “The treadmill of consumption” by Roberts, he says that people are willing to go into debt to buy certain products and brands. That is right that people can do crazy things to buy certain goods.
The advancement in chemical technology with these improved pesticides has created improvements in the public health as well. From this, perhaps, we have become careless in our use and control of them. While there are many positive points, there are also extreme risks involved in using th...
We live in a world that focuses on instant gratification. We compare the bounties and prosperity of others to ours and end up focusing on our ‘have nots’. Focusing on what we don’t have usually only makes us want it more and when we want it bad enough, we will take almost any action that doesn’t seem life threatening or that we think would cause immediate harm. So, many people often find themselves borrowing money to close the gap between what they have and what others have. As a result, many people are
The core metaphor of The Buddha is in the name, the awakened one and in the cognate term “Bodhi,” the condition of being awake (Mchee, 2013, para. 2). It is apparent from Buddhist discourse that awakening is associated with prajna (wisdom) and kaduna (compassion) (Mchee, 2013, para. 3). Buddhism is considered a religion even though it does not have a belief in a God or Gods and instead surrounds itself with a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices. Since Buddhism does not consist of worshipping an actual God, some people do not feel it is an actual religion. The basic ways of a Buddhist teaching are straightforward and to the point. Any change in the Buddhist belief is opposed to any other religion, such as Christianity. Buddhism is open to all people regardless of race, nationality, or gender. Buddhists believe that nothing is fixed or permanent and that change is always possible. It is the path of practice and spiritual growth that shows the true nature of life. Buddhism is 2,500 years old and has around 376 million followers worldwide. The history of Buddhism is the story of one man's spiritual journey to enlightenment, the teachings and ways of living that developed from it.
Buddhism as a religion began in India between the 5th and 6th centuries (Dehejia, 2007). A young prince by the name of Siddhartha Gotama, born in Lumbini, which is the modern day Nepal, came to the conclusion that worldly positions and monetary riches would not ultimately bring him true happiness. Siddhartha spent the next six years meditating and studying different philosophies in search of enlightenment. In his studies, Siddhartha came to what he called “the middle path”( Lowenstein and Bently,2006). According to, Lowenstein and Bently, after his enlightenment Siddhartha was then known as the Buddha, which is derived from the word budhi that means to awaken. The Buddha then spent the rest of his life, until his death at age 80, teaching his principles. He called these principles the Dhamma, or Truth. Even though today it is known as Buddhism, it’s founder referred to it as Dhamma-Vinaya, which means “the doctrine and discipline”.
What is Buddhism? What do we understand by Buddhism? It can be comprehended differently and can mean a variety of things to many people. For one it can be only an explanation of the life of the Buddha. To another, Buddhism means the massive doctrine recorded in the Buddhist literature, which is voluminous and comprise of several thousand pages recording the words of the Buddha. Moreover it is described as a very lofty, abstruse, complex and learned philosophy of life. However based on whatever the Buddha taught, there has grown a very rich culture, a culture which has extended to all parts of Asia for over 2500 years, and to which people from various walks of life with various backgrounds from all these countries have made a lasting contribution. Another definition of Buddhism is the kind of ritual that has grown around the doctrine of the Buddha, as a result of his teachings and the way of life preached by him. But to me Buddhism is the perfect combination of all these definitions. Buddhism has influenced my life by making me adopt the Eightfold Path known as the “Middle Path”, increased the practice of spirituality, comprehend law of impermanence and thus lead a righteous life. It’s mainly thought that Buddhism is a teaching for monks only, as it is sometimes wrongly conceived.
...de, more resources needed to be owned, and more power was needed. Western civilizations are running out of these resources, and this is causing the middle class to disappear. As the resources stopped providing, those living in the middle class began to live on credit. According to Marshall (2010), there is an estimated $1.5 trillion in credit card debt, predominately being carried by 115 million Americans who have monthly credit card debts. As the cost of expensive items such as vehicles, houses, medical insurance, and college education have rapidly increased; the income for the middle class has not improved. America is not the only place this is happening. Countries such as Canada, Greece, Portugal, Britain, and other European nations are experiencing the same debt crises. Rising inflation and increased costs of living are contributing to this debt crisis.
Love is like a rose that blossoms into great beauty. Love starts with a seed that has been carefully planted in the garden. Love is much like when meeting someone for the first time. Getting to know each other is just our roots planting firmly in the ground. With each day love is growing stronger and stronger. In the poem by Ezra Pound, “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” the wife married at fourteen and by the time she was sixteen her love had grown so much that she longed for her beloved husband to come home. The speaker tel...