A million dollar question

One of the million dollar question that I'll always ask my friends is, "Do you believe that a person will change after s/he gets richer?"

I used to study social psychology and in the seminars, many million dollar questions would be raised. At some point I thought studying psychology can be a hazzard to one's mental health itself because we have to consider so many things that are not usually brought up in any normal being's day to day life. But I guess, the whole point of being a psychologist is having to be aware of the nastiest things that could happen and know a way to tackle it or having an awareness to fight for the right of the person who's involved.

Postmodernization was the actual topic that particular morning in class but because in this postmodern world, our priorities have changed entirely to decades ago. Many of our beliefs which are brought forward from the past into our world today is purely based on the past, when life could be much simpler and easier. One of the issue that was raised was that - Education is power and power is happiness, power is the way to life. So I sat there thinking, why is education power? Is it purely because of knowledge or is it education equals better money, hence allows a person to feel more powerful? So I threw out my question. From the equation above, my lecture raised his eyebrow and asked me if I agree that when a person gets richer, a person will change?

It certainly took me quite a while to answer. I put myself into the whole situation and timidly answered yes. Money does change a person. Quite often, when a person get richer, s/he posses more power, it is hard to stay humble with everything you've got. I had some respond saying money is not happiness. Is it not? So, I brought up few issues about feminism and domestic violence. Domestic violence happens because woman has no power, no money. When a woman earns money on her own, she automatically earns herself some power, hence, easily freed herself from the threat of domestic violence. Decades ago, domestic violence is such a huge issue over the continent. Domestic violence forced women out of their comfort zone, from typical stay home housewifes to independent women who dream big. Then, the whole social norms have changed, nowadays capable women will say "screw you" and leave the guys who ever thought of threatening them. Why? It is because they have the knowledge, they have the ability to earn their own money and support their own living, they have earned power.

My own personal experience reflects that with more money you get, you certainly change. Sometimes it may be a good thing, but not another. With the money and power, a person usually trade in his humbleness, breeding that greed and arrogance.