Read and ponder Chapters 7 & 8 and write about why you feel that 67% of adult Americans state that they are not content. Do you agree that there are billions of people all across this Earth who would love to have our bad days in America? Why do we let some of our minor problems ruin our attitudes? End with a statement on how you can become more content.
Real Rabbits Essay
It has been found that 67% of the American adults have stated that they are not content with their lives. The reason for that may lie with the priorities in life by the American Adults. There are billions of people around the world who would love to have the bad days of an American’s life. It shows that there must be something wrong happening regarding the perception of a content life for Americans. It can be the blind pursuit of material possessions, living a routine life, having no investment in making long-term relationships or the pressure of keeping up with the societal norms of contentment.
As mentioned in the book Real Rabbits, the author encourages people to seek authentic life and authentic success. This statement implies that not every success can be termed as an authentic success. As per the author, authentic success lies with contentment through solid character and strong personal relationships. The American dream is to build around the norms of pursuing wealth, prestige and fame. These are considered as the standards for measurement of contentment and happiness of a person. However, as mentioned by the author, young people often realize it late that these things do not lead to authentic success and consequently to contentment. The author has raised questions on the societal norms and the blind pursuit of material possessions and the effect that it has on our minds, souls, and health. Benjamin Franklin had rightly warned about this way of life. According to him “people get old too soon and wise too late.” It shows that people tend to follow the norms of society without deliberately thinking about it and assessing if it is good for them. This realization came very late in life when there is not much left to change.
American life tends to focus on individuals. The entertainment mediums, the dining settings in most of the restaurants and bars, the educational system, and the communication platforms, more precisely, the social platforms are all designed to cater to individual needs. One would not see large families sitting together having dinner. Rather, it is an effort to bring everyone together in one place. Smart phones and technology have also become more individual-centric. There used to be one telephone in the past for a family.
Now there is one for each. Privacy and space for individuals have become priorities instead of having quality family time. Vacations have become more individual-centric as well. It is not to say that less-family orientation has led to this discontentment. It is more to imply that the relationships which are given by nature to humans and are considered the strongest have become farther because of the most importance and time spent on our “routines.” The routine of a child and the routine of a grown-up adult is centered on becoming good enough and productive citizen; productive enough and good enough to bear the financial responsibility of a family. The moral responsibilities and social responsibilities are long forgotten to become important enough to be taught. It has all led to a lack of long-term personal relationships and weak characters.
Our children are cultured to become a part of the financial and economic system, and this leads to lack of commitment to invest in other important things like character building and long-term relationships which can become the foundation for the authentic success and authentic life. It shows that one should focus more on investing time and effort in character building and strong personnel relation building.
+447462439809