A Tribute to Ashley

My cousin, Ashley Anderson, passed away January 17, 2006, the day of her father’s (my uncle’s) birthday and two weeks before my 8th birthday.  Ashley had been bravely fighting a brain tumor for two years while continuing to brighten the lives of every person around her.  Being that she was only seventeen years old when she passed, it was heartbreaking to know her life ended short of what was to be an amazing journey.

Ashley was an exuberant young woman with a kind hearted soul.  She was a team player and a leader in every aspect of her life.  Seeing that she was almost ten years older than me, she frequently came over to babysit my younger sister and I.  With her, the adventures were endless.  Ashley made any babysitting experience a fun time, whether it be doing each other’s hair, playing board games, or eating more ice cream than we should.  Her intelligence though made her a stand out in high school.  She was a part of multiple clubs, a starter on her high school varsity volleyball team, and a straight A student.  No wonder it was a tragic loss for her friends, families, coaches, and teachers when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Even then, she never let her smile waver.  Ashley continued to take part in family and friend activities, like our Thanksgiving family game of Left, Right, Center.  She inspired my whole family to get involved in the SSBTR, or Students Supporting Brain Tumor Research.  Though she may not have realized it, Ashley touched my life forever.

Ashley wore the number nine on her jersey in volleyball.  To this day, I wear the number nine on my jersey for every sport I play.  It’s a reminder that I too can have the confidence and leadership Ashley had nine years ago.

Spring Break

To know that my Spring Break is over is quite depressing, but I have no regrets on how I spent my time during the last week.  I began my break with a weekend of soccer where my team and I battled in two extremely hot and gruesome games.  It was unusual at the time to be playing in 80 degree weather at such an early time in March.  After this, my family and I traveled to Texas for the weekdays where we scheduled to visit SMU, TCU, Baylor, and UT Austin.  Being that these were my first official college visits, I was immensely excited but also so terrified.  To think that I could be applying to these colleges in six months is insane!  The environment around SMU was breathtaking, but I also loved the campus of TCU.  There was also so much to see and do along the river in the capital of Austin where UT Austin sits.  I was not a huge fan of Baylor being that there wasn’t much to the town of Waco, the home of Baylor.  To sum up my whole experience though, I would probably vote that TCU was my favorite!

Being that this is the last quarter of my junior year, I’m looking forward to the summer break where I transition to becoming a Senior.  I also can’t wait for all the stresses of junior year to come to a close.  I want to end the year happy with my accomplishments!

Why that Blog Title?

Jeanne Mongan - a name I acquired after my grandmother’s name and my mom’s middle name.  My parents decided on this knowing they would call me Jeannie, a more unique and informal name.  Though it may seem like a simple yet girly title, I would be a millionaire if I had a dollar for every time someone mispronounced my name. “Jeanne" is pronounced like blue jean with the ‘e' at the end being silent.  “Mongan” is pronounced just how it looks, just remember that the ’n’ is not an ‘r.’  It is quite amusing to hear every new face pronounce my last name with the ‘r’ instead of the ’n.’  One would think that people catch on to their mistake after awhile, but no, “Morgan” seems to stick rather than “Mongan.” I have probably heard every mispronunciation possible.  Whether it be Jenny or Janeane, nobody seems to get that Jeannie is my name.  It has become such a problem that I’ve come to introduce myself saying, “Hi, I’m Jeannie, like a “Genie in a bottle.”  I guess that representation seems to click in people’s minds rather quickly.

With that being said, I labeled this blog “Janeane Morgan” to make a sarcastic reference to myself as the blogger.  Maybe with this title people will actually be able to remember who I am.  This trait of sarcasm is also an important part of my personality and sense of humor; I believe my blog title represents that clearly.  

Definition Essay

Jeannie Mongan

Mrs. Heisler

English III AP, Period F

11 February 2015

Wealth – Money or Happiness?

If one is to type the word “wealth” into the search bar of Google Images, only one concept pops up: money.  A plethora of dollar bills, gold coins, and dollar signs continue endlessly from page to page with the occasional image of a private jet, a shiny Lamborghini, or a smiling Oprah.  Today’s society automatically links wealth with this utopian lifestyle of exclusive fame and overwhelming fortune, forgetting that wealth can mean more than the materialistic conceptions.  To see beyond the stereotypical view of wealth is to see wealth as a flexible word that describes not only one’s financial worth and power, but also one’s interpretations on happiness and well-being.

The literal definition of wealth has become more fixated on the idea of financial riches over the past centuries.  Dictionary.com states that in the mid-thirteenth century, wealth specifically translated to mean “well-being” or “health” with also a relation to “happiness” (“wealth”).   By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the idea of wealth as more of a description of “possessions and prosperity” began to stick as the social norm ("wealth, n").  According to Roget's Thesaurus, words like affluence, abundance, richness, revenue, and security all have a similar meaning to wealth, while words like debt, poverty, and scarcity are considered contradictory (“wealth”).  With these definitions, synonyms, and antonyms, one can begin to escape the narrow definition and expand on the understanding of wealth as both a word of welfare and affluence.

Besides money, another word that is often lumped in with the interpretations of wealth is power.  Society considers men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett as not only wealthy people but also as authoritative individuals.  This general assumption is based off of the fact that all three men are loaded with cash.  Did the public consider them powerful because they are rich in family relationships?  Did the population say they are wealthy because all three are involved in a profusion of charitable works?  When asking the students of Notre Dame Preparatory whether they considered Bill Gates to be wealthy and/or powerful, all replied yes; when questioned why they believed this, all answered with a reply regarding his abundance of money.  Society’s limited view of wealth exposes this naïve public awareness.  There is more to wealth besides money and power.

As one can observe in the modern world, the “possessions and prosperity” aspect of wealth continues to be today’s belief.  The wealthy in society are the ones who have money or assets and investments.  But how much money truly declares a person to be “wealthy” in financial terms?  Time took a survey of people with assets between one million to five million dollars in 2013 and found that only twenty-eight percent answered yes to the question: “Do you consider yourself wealthy?” (Tuttle).  When asked what it takes to be considered wealthy, fifty percent replied, “having no constraints on activities” (Tuttle).  With this said, one must clarify what qualifies as these so called “activities.”   If these activities include going on shopping sprees in Paris, traveling the globe for pleasure, or renting a house in the Hampton’s every summer, than one’s financial income would most certainly fall in the group with assets between one million to five million.  But if these interests are representatives of a simpler lifestyle, such as being able to put food on the table for a family of four daily, paying for typical medical expenses, or shopping at Target for new clothes when needed, than one’s income would not be as high.  With the interpretation of what makes a person wealthy comes the interpretation of what activities create an enjoyable lifestyle.  Wealth does include a description of financial stability, but one’s view on stability does, as cliché as it may sound, depend on the “eye of the beholder.”

Wealth is related to happiness.  Gandhi once said, “Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity” (Ghandi).  Instead of measuring one’s wealth through the amount of possessions, wealth can also be gauged by how delightful relationships are, how enlightened one feels after attending school, or how fun it is to be a part of a sport.  How happy one feels is also a measure of how wealthy one is.  Personally, I feel extremely wealthy because I have a loving family, a school I can thrive in, a team to play with daily, a bed to sleep in, and a faith religiously that grounds me.  All these aspects of my life are the source of my happiness and well-being.  There are many factors that bring about diverse interpretations of one’s well-being, such as culture, age, religion, location, social status, and economic status.  A homeless man in Phoenix will have a different gauge of happiness than an entrepreneur of Upper East Side New York City.  In some instances, there can be excessive wealth in the midst of poverty.  Yes, money can also be the source of one’s happiness and health, but that does not mean it is the only object that defines one’s wealth.  The ideas, feelings, or objects that are responsible for the joys in life are the points that can help determine how wealthy one is.  

Even someone with an abundance of money and assets can struggle to find joy in life.  So are unhappy people truly wealthy?  Is one’s genuine happiness more important than materialistic possessions?  Can money buy anything that will bring happiness?  But does cash buy lasting relationships or a loving family?  Those who have money but no happiness are not truly wealthy.  Money can definitely bring temporary joy for oneself, but soon one will need more money to replace that temporary pleasure.  The only proven evidence of money buying happiness is when the beholder of the financial riches invests in others, or donates parts of his or her earnings to benefit an individual or group.  Authors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton of nonfiction book Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending found the typical ratio of people choosing to spend on themselves versus others is ten to one (Flynn).  No wonder society has a misconception regarding the relation between one’s earnings and one’s well-being.  Dunn and Norton also went on to mention how companies like Pepsi and Google boosted their employees’ moral through the partnership with DonorsChoose.org (Flynn).  If giving back can create a happier environment for these gigantic companies, than donating to others can bring a lighthearted mindset to any individual.  To come to a sense of true wealth, maybe looking into improving the lives around oneself is the best way to go.

Wealth has a much deeper meaning beyond its monetary definition.  The idea of wealth can also be an adjective in describing the how happy one feels in his or her life or a depiction of one’s well-being.  Both thoughts work off one another through the sense that money can buy happiness only if it is being used to improve the life of another.  Each person’s personal view on what makes him or her wealthy has a lot to do with the type of lifestyle he or she chooses to live.  Society must remember to have a flexible perspective on these definitions; otherwise the misconception of wealth as only as description of one’s financial worth will cloud one’s judgment on the true values in life.

Works Cited

Flynn, Francis J. "Research: Can Money Buy Happiness?" Stanford Graduate School of Business. Stanford University, 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.

Gandhi, Mahatma. "Quotes About Wealth." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.

Tuttle, Brad. "What It Means to Be ‘Wealthy’ in America Today." TIME. Time Inc., 24 July 2013. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.

"wealth." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Feb. 2015.

"wealth." Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2009. 08 Feb. 2015.

"wealth, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2014. Web. 8 February 2015.