Money vs Morals - Dilemma of the 2 'M's

'Money is the root of all evil', is a commonplace quote that people hear it occasionally. In today's context, money has become more important than ever. More people are getting richer each day and the demand for luxury goods increases exponentially daily. Last week I happened to chance upon a news: Plastic Rice consumed by a girl in Medan, North Sumatra and that made me ponder the length at which people are willing to brave to earn that extra little money. I wondered if the notion of thousands of people dying of food poisoning ever come across their minds. Below are my 2 cents worth as well as a rhyme that I composed.

In order to understand why people are willing to get their hands dirty to earn more money, we ought to study the correlation between happiness and wealth. After all, individuals earn money to indulge in their exotic wants. In my opinion, having more money would mean greater happiness. There is no such thing as 'I have enough money', considering inflation and the influx of more luxury goods. You can never get enough of good food and gadgets. When you are poor, you spend on more economical items and buy goods of lower quality to make ends meet. When you are rich, you tend to splurge on big ticket items, and hence having a higher expenditure. In other words, you spend more when you earn more; there is no end to it.

Surprisingly, studies have shown that there IS actually a limit to how much happiness can be 'bought'. Studies from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School claims that having an annual income of USD$75, 000 is the most optimum. The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she gets. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness.

They always say you don't have to work so hard to complete a task. If you work smart, they say. Returning back to the topic of money vs morals, is forsaking morals a method of working smart? Well, the sad truth is yes. You can get dirty and do things in an unethical way and obtain the same results as those who put in a lot more effort. While we do not encourage those who earn money through illegal means, there exists such people in the world. I hope that for those who have yet to commit any evil deeds, I advise you to stay 'clean'. For those who is a foot in the 'dark side', I advise you to revert to being the righteous person you used to be in the name of justice. For most cases, no crimes go unpunished and a man pays for his wrongdoings. At the end of the day, you might lose more than what you gain for getting 'dirty'. Working smart does not necessitate you to commit morally incorrect deeds for the sake of money. It's simply not worth it.