What is the good life - Essay Example

What is the good life? Good life is relative and is defined differently by various people. However, everyone ascertains that a good life should be fulfilling and satisfying. Fulfillment and satisfaction are equally relative, they solicit different definitions from different people this therefore relates the relativity of a good life. Every one has a different goal and objective from another, the achievement of these makes life more meaningful thereby making it good. Daniel Suelo in his book, The man who quit money, asserts that people tend to relate the availability of money to the attainment of good life.

Money is the means to purchase; it is true that the availability of money makes life better and a lot more comfortable. However, the availability of money is not tantamount to the attainment of a good life.A good life is characterized by happiness, money guarantees the availability of resources but it does not guarantee happiness in a home and satisfaction. Money enslaves people, turns friend into enemies, compels people to steal and engage in dishonest act. Money is therefore more related to evil than happiness and satisfaction.

In the non-fictional story, Zeitoun, a character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun is introduced; he is a Muslim who moves from Syria to settle in the United States of America (Dave 12). While in America, he meets a Muslim convert, one Kathy who he later marries and together they have two children and a family business. Life for the young family is good enough. They have a family business which is capable of catering for their financial needs, they have children they are generally comfortable.Things change with time as hurricane Katrina strikes, the family is forced to separate as zeitoun chooses to remain and cater for the family business, he uses a second hand canoe to rescue the stranded tenants and provides shelter to abandoned dogs.

He happily does this and shows affection to very strange people, he gains satisfaction from the smiles he receives from those he helps. Things change suddenly for him after he is arrested and the society within which he had lived and made a life for himself suddenly turns against him. The 9/11 incident takes place and situation worsen for Zeitoun who is of Arabic descent (Dave 22). The society is overly discriminated and Zeitoun is treated worse than a human is, he is denied basic needs that other American citizens in the same cells are granted.

Good life is therefore a satisfactory life, satisfaction comes from setting personal goals and achieving them. Money is overly inconsequential to the attainment of s good life. money makes things happen, it gains respect for those with a lot of it but it never satisfies, those with more money will always try to gain more, this endeavor compels them to engage in grotesque activities at the expense of others. The world has enough resources to cater for all who roam its surface, through hard work and positive thinking; people succeed in achieving the objectives in life thereby drawing satisfaction from their actions.

A good life cannot be achieved if the society does not permit it. The attainment of a good life is therefore a collective task that begins with making the society a safe place, a place where basic rights are not violated and people co exist peacefully and in perpetual happiness with one another. Hatred and discrimination as experienced by Zeitoun in America makes life meaningless and less satisfactory, such a life is not good at all. Work CitedDave, Eggers. Zeitoun. New York: McSweeneys, 2009. Print.