The term rich can also be applied to the accumulation of other things besides financial wealth.
Things like good health, close relationships with family or friends, good health, a rewarding career, enjoyable hobbies, etc. can also make people feel rich and well off.
Being rich does not necessarily mean a person is happy. The story of King Midas is a classic tale wealth and unhappiness as is George Eliot's classic Silas Marner in which the hero, Silas, finds happiness only after losing his horde of gold and taking in and raising an orphaned child.
The term poor little rich girl is a further examle of a person being both rich and unhappy as it describes a person born to great wealth who is also alone and friendless in the world.
However, before carrying this philosophical discussion too far, let us remember that we live in the twenty-first century of today and not the eighteenth century of George Washington and we need more money to acquire the creature comforts that are available today.
As to happiness, while it is true that we cannot buy happiness with money, we should not forget author Leo Rosten's observation that, Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.
Things like good health, close relationships with family or friends, good health, a rewarding career, enjoyable hobbies, etc. can also make people feel rich and well off.
Being rich does not necessarily mean a person is happy. The story of King Midas is a classic tale wealth and unhappiness as is George Eliot's classic Silas Marner in which the hero, Silas, finds happiness only after losing his horde of gold and taking in and raising an orphaned child.
The term poor little rich girl is a further examle of a person being both rich and unhappy as it describes a person born to great wealth who is also alone and friendless in the world.
However, before carrying this philosophical discussion too far, let us remember that we live in the twenty-first century of today and not the eighteenth century of George Washington and we need more money to acquire the creature comforts that are available today.
As to happiness, while it is true that we cannot buy happiness with money, we should not forget author Leo Rosten's observation that, Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.
