With all the crazy “reality” TV on these days, it seems like people will do almost anything to get some fast cash.  We watch reality TV “stars” eat raw fish eyeballs and jump off of eighty-story buildings in the hope that they might win big – because the money is always worth the pain, right?  The want for more money, a bigger house, better clothes, and cooler gadgets has been with people since the first man realized that his neighbor’s cave was bigger than his own.  The desire to have more is a part of our modern society.  True, not every person in the world wishes to have the best of everything – there are those who are quite content with little more than food and shelter – but for many of us, the idea of living like a king is sort of appealing. 

Wanting wealth is one thing, but abandoning relationships and valuing things over people – totally giving in to materialism – is not a great way to live.  Because in the long run, as cliché as it is, the things that are the most valuable are not the ones that are covered with gold and jewels.  What really matters are the people around you.  But that doesn’t mean you have to abandon all material things and live in a self-made tree house in the middle of the forest.  Wanting things does not make you a bad person.  However, abandoning all forms of social and civil interaction for a material gain does not make you seem like a great person.  And becoming obsessed with having it all can lead to serious money problems down the road.