Usually when you describe a person, you describe them by their features: short, tall, old, young, fat, skinny, friendly, unfriendly... rich, or poor. I know that I've described people by these features, but I recently asked myself why exactly these qualities define a person.
The amount of money someone has shouldn't define a person, but it does. Someone's richness or poorness helps decide what kind of lifestyle they live, the things they do, where they live, etc.
If you look at characters on television shows or in movies, you can often define them by how much money they have. Look at the TV show Will & Grace for example-- Karen is a character completely defined by her snootiness, raging alcoholism, and her extreme wealth. The huge amount of money she has is something that helps define her character.
Do you think a person is defined by how much or how little money they have?
Comments (9)
Absolutely. I remember growing up, my family went from not being terribly well off, until my dad started his own business, and it slowly but surely became very successful. Until I guess we were well off. I never really considered myself to be well off... but I guess we were. When I got into highschool, I made friends with people who were, less off then I was I guess, because I just liked them more. And no one really judged me or had problems with me and we were all equals until one day I invited them over to my house for a sleep over and all of a sudden they were talking about me behind my back and saying I thought I was better then everyone else. And that happened because they suddenly saw how "rich" I was. Needless to say, they weren't the greatest friends, I realized. But I feel like that was a pretty good example of the way people define others by their money.
Unfortunately in this society... yes.
Everything is about money. If you're rich, you've done something right... or maybe something bad to get there. And, if you're poor you're not working to your potential. I think it's really dumb how people are judged and defined on how much they make or how nice their car is. We don't know what hardships they've gone through, so why make assumptions and judge?
Of course. We never really want to, but that's how it is.
It depends on how what you mean? If you mean are our characters created by money, I think they are. Obviously if you are used to the good high quality things you can buy and do with money, you are going to be a bit different. Not necessarily snotty, but just more knowledgeable about things like high fashion, travel destination, posh spas, etc. You might even be drippingly sweet and philanthropic.
If you are poor you might be bitter because you can't have what you want and think you need. You might be depressed because you can't buy what you really need, like food. You might be content because at least you have something.
It completely depends.
I think a person is defined by their ability to control their financial affairs. The people out of debt might still be poor but they now have a better credit rating. Now they're working for themselves instead of their creditors.
well, no. but neither do height, weight, nor age. friendliness, yes.
A person is not shaped by money but by what money brings into their lives. Take a poor person to the supermarket and they might eat some grapes or a plum straight from the counter, something thought of as wrong or unmannerly. Take a poor person to a fancy restaurant with chilled salad forks and watch them fidget and give a strange expression. Take a rich person and ask them the going rate for food stamps on the dollar and see the same expression.
Look at a persons dreams. A poor persons highest hope in life might be to buy a home and own it, perhaps leaving it to their children. A rich person would already own a home and might dream of owning a yacht to travel across the oceans.
@x_Butterflies_and_Hurricanes_x@xanga - sorry to hear that. :( i dont like the whole money friendship relationship.
I think a human being is the sum of a lot of factors in their lives. How much money you have is just one of those factors. It does make a difference in how you think and therefore in who you are. Judging people based on only one factor or another is always a bad idea. I am probably just as guilty of doing it as others are though.... sigh... I would rather not date rich men because I have found too many of them to be lacking in substance so I have a bias against them in general which is really not fair to the ones who may be perfectly sweet in touch people... I am working on my biases but thus far have not been able to completely rid my mind of them.