A SOCIETAL PLAGUE: THE NEW RICH

Every generation has always had a group of people who go from a lower socio-economic status to a higher level by obtaining wealth and reproducing it. They are upstarts and are usually very determined to join the existing elite.

In America, these people who have obtained money recently are usually referred to as “nouveau riche.”  According to Karl Marx, the new rich are “petty bourgeois” with ambitions and aspirations to have the superior class’s lifestyle. These newly arrived individuals lack a clear identity in the division of classes.

The new rich go out their way to show others how much money they have as a way of making up for the things they were deprived from during their childhood. By working their way up to gain social acceptance, they are constantly condemned also to adopt global patterns of behaviors of the upper class such as exhibiting certain mannerisms, buying expensive things, sending their kids to private schools and trying to fit in the exclusive social circles of those who inherited their money. These new rich even force themselves to do things that they were never interested in doing just for the sake to be accepted by the “old money” class.

Because of money does not buy happiness, the sudden wealth plague has been widely criticized and ridiculed by members of the upper class society they so desperately want to impress and be accepted by.  The new rich often exhibit a lack of taste and refinement.  As a result, they are unaware of how conspicuous and tacky their behavior appears to others.

The new rich constantly struggle to fit in but they are caught between going back to the lifestyle they had before they made their money and trying to gain the social acceptance of the upper class that often turn up their noses at them. This social struggle rarely produces good results. The consequences of practicing this social game often leads to unhappiness, insecurity and other major psychological problems.

Since wealth does not produce permanent happiness, it is best to look inside yourself for what really is important to your life and what will provide true happiness.

            

                                                                                            By: Yilva Kalmanson

TYHE FAMILY WHO TRAVELS WITH US

INSPIRAMIN

One Dosis of Inspiration a Day

As we go through life, we constantly reminded of things we learned when we were young from our parents, our siblings, our aunts, our uncles, and other family members. That is the reason why when we visit the places we grew up we are quickly reminded of our mental role models because this is where they first emerged. The first school we went to, the supermarket in the neighborhood, our first friends, the street where we grew up as children.

I would say our parents are usually the most influential members of our families.

Significantly integrated families gave us all the support we needed and tended to either produce a most healthy outcome in life or for those who were ignored or rejected as children they had to work harder in order to find themselves and have an empathetic contact to survive.

The strongest influence in our lifetime is the family we grew up in.  Not all the family influences are totally positive and the family is not the only place to look for how to behave with others.  In some cases, parents and siblings can create lots of complexes for children, making you feel inferior by criticizing everything you do. Some parents want to instill their ideas and beliefs by imposing them on us.

Even being away from home, our family and their influences are always in the back of our minds and travel with us forever.  We have to learn how to manage these influences, how to think for ourselves and set limits to feel free without having to always look back to the past.

As human beings, we have the capacity to reinvent ourselves by cleansing all the junk we have accumulated in our brains from others and start all over again after a bad period of our lives.   As I grew older, I learned how to manage and maintain my own convictions and ideas.  I am also surrounded with lots of love and support which is a very important element to helping me to look forward and never backward.

                                                                                         By: Yilva Kalmanson

                                                   

MATURITY

Reaching maturity is a process of social, psychological , and of course physiological facts.  It is healthy for us to be immature sometimes and have the child that is on us go to play a part but always keeping in mind that the adult part of us remains in control.

Maturity also means to me the searching for the real meaning of life. Go a little bit deeper and let the make-believe part of us go.

A person who has reached maturity would be able to say “ I have been in that winding road before and I know every single curve of it”

 

LOTS OF FACEBOOK FRIENDS BUT NOBODY REAL TO TALK TO.....

There is not doubt that due to the proliferation of the Internet the way we live our lives is now very different than it was for previous generations. For those people who have the tendency to become fully integrated into society, it is now extremely difficult to find contacts on the web who have good social skills and can easy engage in an intelligent conversation.

The social networks, of course, exclude those who never had many previous contacts and are trying to look for new ones.  Those who were lonely will be always lonely because they lack the ability to make meaningful relationships in their real life.

On the other hand, the Internet and its various social networks put up barriers between people making them feel that the only way they have to communication is via two or three lines of text. This is a poor way to have a meaningful dialogue with another human being.

I personally prefer to the share company of a single good friend than trying to acquire a huge list of superficial friends online.

Social networks in general will always be good for those who already have control of their lives, have meaningful relationships with others and are able to successfully cope with solitude.  Social networks, however, are not good for those who lack self-confidence, who are not able to cope with others in the “real world,” and who cannot deal with being alone.

In today’s advanced world of communications, I recommend that people who are lonely should detach themselves from online social networking and try to make more genuine attachments with other individuals in other more healthy, genuine and truly human ways.

                                                                                  By: Yilva Kalmanson