What are human beings if they cannot marvel at the resplendent nature: the cooing of the birds, the whistling of a tender zephyr, the guileless smile of a child, the babbling of the river and the sangfroid of the mountains?

But alas! How perception has changed in the 21st century! Their love for money has clouded their minds so much that their hearts have been rendered incapable of rejoicing at the beauties of nature. What great joy fills the heart at the sight of the rising sun, the tranquil moon and the vast world of stars? But their beauty is often lost on man, who, it seems, is only concerned about amassing money these days. Monetary benefits have outweighed other human concerns in people’s frantic search for riches.

As we are bound by the pleasures of the sense organs, nothing gives us more satisfaction than the inflated ego and power that comes with money. Even though we have heard umpteen tales of the people who have reached the peak of glory even though they were poor, we hardly pay heed to these genuine success stories.

In such a condition, the gap between rich and poor has only widened. While the poor do not even have enough to make their ends meet, the affluent, on the other hand, continue to pile up riches.

When the Greek God Dionysus granted Midas, the King of Phrygia, the power to turn everything he touched into gold, the greedy king soon understood the dire ramifications of the “blessing”. Everything he touched turned into gold at once: the apple he wanted to eat, the water he wanted to drink, so much so that even his little daughter turned into a gold statue as he embraced her. The moral: lust for lucre can only deprive us of pleasure that nature bestows upon anyone ready to enjoy it.

It’s never too late to realise that life has so much more to offer than material benefits. Let’s enjoy our lives to the fullest. This can only be done by detaching ourselves from greed. Of course, this is not to undermine the importance of money. But money is not the be-all and end-all, not by a long shot. It has its advantages and its limitations. After all, there’s no harm in sipping honey, as long as we do not sink in it. This applies to money, too.