Good Life and What it

¶ … good life and what it means nowadays. In order to support the discussion we will summarize the ideas from two articles, compare and contrast them. The articles which are the subject of the present critique include Robert C. Solomon "Strategic planning -For the good life" and Joanne B. Ciulla "leisure and consumption."

Let us begin by summarizing Solomon's ideas. In his article, the writer points out to the importance which planning has in order to have a good life. Naturally, there are no universal coordinates which define life as being good, but normally people tend to appreciate things like family, friendship, romantic love, security, freedom, good health, wealth, etc. According to Solomon, much of the negative things which we have to deal with are the result not of bad luck or misfortune, but of merely bad planning (or no planning at all).

He underlines the fact that the core of the problem is to be found in the general mentality. People are taught to plan their careers and to support their expectations accordingly. Life planning might be limited to marriage and children and does not always work out for the best. Much of the disappointment that we need to face comes from our lack of will to prioritize our values and act in a manner which is most likely to lead us in a direction where they are fulfilled.

Planning a career might help us achieve a single goal (that is the professional one), but this does not mean that this factor exclusively represents the road to happiness. One might argue that life is completely unpredictable and therefore the mere thought of planning it is foolish. It is true that tragedies occur and this happens independently of our will (think about illnesses or death), but many things are not that unpredictable.

Life has been the same for ever. The communication means and technology are recording fast pace developments which leave us speechless, but the things and values which make people happy are the same. Solomon draws the attention to coordinates such as friendship, family life, time to enjoy it, a sense of fulfillment, the respects of one's neighbor and self-respect besides, good health and the "good things" that money will buy. Perhaps the most important consideration that the author makes is that chance does not simply happen. There are a lot of things that we could do in order to construct our lives in the desired direction. All we need to do is have a clear thought about what really makes us happy and then work in order to achieve them.

Ciulla on the other hand declares that leisure is "a special social experience which consists of activities that are freely chosen and good in themselves. In addition, leisure brings out what is best and most distinctive about being human- our abilities to think, feel, reflect, create and learn. We need leisure o develop wisdom." It is obvious that leisure means much more than having free time. It involves using that time when we do not work in a manner which is constructive and pleasant for us.

One interesting aspect that we could consider is the relation between work and amusements. These latter ones are defined as actions which help people get distracted from something else. In the older days both men and women believed that the time spent working gave them the right to spend their free time being amused. However, things changed and starting from the eighties Americans started to value goods more than amusements. In other words, instead of investing their money in activities which were amusing, entertaining and constructive, they chose to simply buy "things." Having in mind the relation between work and amusement, it is safe to say that by finding amusement in consumption implies creating a bigger need to work (otherwise one would not have the necessary financial resources). Working exclusively for money for a long time has a negative impact on people who come to be less and less motivated. The author underlines the fact that the reasons for which we work are more important than the actual work we do. For example, working in order to have enough money to pay for a superior education is definitely more rewarding than working in order to be able to buy Cd players and clothes. Work plays a determinant role in shaping our lives and impacts our happiness in a fundamental manner. Therefore, if we work just to be able to spend more, it is easy to understand that this type of long-term approach to life is unlikely to make us happy. Having lots of things and spending a lot of money in order to increase the number of the things we own is not what will create a good and happy life for us.

The media plays an important role here, as advertising no longer tries to sell products, but to impose life style patterns and values for life. As a result we have people comparing themselves with others who are likely to gain ten times more than they do. The result is nothing but more money spending, more debts and naturally more working.

Both authors under discussion suggest that time is a key factor for achieving a good life. Solomon focuses on the so called strategic planning through which one could improve the chances of a better life. Ciulla on the other hand supports the idea according to which leisure is fundamental for one's development, but also for his or her happiness. Linking the ideas in the two articles, we could say that people are more oriented towards the development of their career because they are led by a consumerist approach to life. Having a good career implies not only a certain social status, but also a lot of money. Naturally these money can be used in order to buy things. The more and the more expensive the things that we buy, the more apparent our status becomes to the others (and to ourselves).