Price of Happiness
1. My take-aways from this video are, of course, how ridiculous some things in the world are. Examples of real life material objects that were presented by Wallace astounded me. The title, "Price of Happiness," combined with the examples provided by Wallace really made me wonder - is that what it takes to be happy? The higher the price, the higher the happiness? If this is the reality... it is extremely saddening. One would wonder of the roots of happiness and what causes true, real, happiness, and hopefully people would come to mind. Friends and family, people one cares about are what causes happiness - or what should. It is so unfortunate to face the fact that people think of money when they think of happiness, rather than the people who surround them - yet I know there are people like this. Mrs. Cornils told us in class of a friend she has that lives in Texas. Apparently he has a car for each season, and in the garage there is a mechanical hand that takes off the roof of the Jeep. Each member of the family has their own media room, and each child (there are two) has their own nanny. However, then Mrs. Cornils said that she knows for a fact that she loves her job way more than her friend loves his. This really affected me - this idea of doing what you love. If you do, at the end of the day, I wonder: wouldn't you rather be truly happy and love what you do, or would you rather have enormous amounts of material things, and not love what you do? To me, this question is a no-brainer. To someone else, the answer might look quite different. And some might have to ponder this question for a while. I admit that many people would not see a problem in buying ridiculously priced items - the more expensive, the better! With today's media - movies, television shows, and magazines all documenting celebrities and fame, there is a common feeling that one might need to be rich to be happy. I have felt confusion and frustration concerning the subject. However, if asked the question that I asked above, I know that my mind might wonder to extravagant, expensive items - but I also know that the center of myself would ultimately answer for me - a conclusion having to do with love and happiness, not material goods. This is comforting to myself. In addition, the statistics mentioned by Wallace at the end of his presentation hit me, but did not necessarily surprise me. People, when faced with wines with false price tags, claimed to have enjoyed the supposedly more expensive wine than the other, although the price of this wine was in reality much lower than it claimed to be. MRI tests were done while the people tested the wines - and even they showed that the brain felt more pleasure with this falsely-priced wine. It makes me think - are we that hung up on money that we have fooled our brains too?
2. Wallace had effective speaking techniques - one of the most notable the inflection of his voice. One might not consider him to be a particularly intriguing speaker, however, inflection heard in his voice seemed to interest the audience even with his apparent calmness. It seemed that he enjoyed reflecting on his experiences, which made the audience enjoy them as well.
3. Wallace's presentation style was extremely visual. He showed photographs of each item he presented with the important information underneath - like the price, instead of reading it aloud. The visual aid to his presentation made sense, as it is easier to understand the idea associated with the product when you are able to see it with your own eyes. In addition, he showed the photograph, and waited a few seconds to have the price appear. This is effective, as it allows the audience to make a guess as to the price of the item - and when the actual price appeared, it made it all the more astonishing after being able to soak in the appearance of the item. One more aspect, also visual, about Wallace's presentation style was the occasional photograph purely in the interest of comedy. When a dog is pictured lounging with and using these extremely expensive items, the point of the presentation is driven even further. It also provides a break from incredible information and keeps the audience entertained and interested. In addition, Wallace described his experience of testing an item out and reflected on it. This gave the audience insight to the reality of the product. However, for other items, Wallace presented the item and the price, and took a moment or two of silence. This enabled the audience to form their own opinion and view of the item.
4. This video matters. Like mentioned in question one, in today's society, there is a pressure to be perfect and to be wealthy. There seems to be an obsession with material things. However, this video exposes the reality in having these sorts of items. What it does is show that the most expensive is not, in fact, what is always the best. This is such an essential aspect to understand - because when people become consumed by what they have rather than who they're with, there is a great probability that their lives will change - and not for the better. This matters to me due to personal experience. There have been issues in my life that have made me understand what I truly believe - that is, that people are most important and that to love, to really love, is one of many things that should be strived for. This video matters to education because, again, people today are influenced by media. I believe that education exists for life - and the ideas presented in this video are something to consider deciding how to live one's life - and in deciding who one is. Finally, going off of that last point, this video is important to the world for similar reasons - people fill the world. People are the world. It is vital that we have understanding of reasons why we are here and what we can do.
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