To have a life in rich or poverty?

That's a really good question. I certainly don't want to spend my whole life working as hard as I am now. But if I lived my whole life in luxury, never accomplishing anything and never knowing how hard others had to work for my luxury, I don't know if that would be a fulfilling life either. On the plus side, I might not _know_ my life wasn't fulfilling, but still....

What would be ideal, in my opinion, would be to have your needs provided for and then to be able to use your wealth to help the needy and your leisure to think of ways to improve the lot of humanity. In theory, at least, a person who doesn't have to work to get by ought to have more energy to give to finding ways to make the world a better place. I'm not sure how that holds up in practice, though. I mean, sometimes you hear of celebrities doing this, like Bono, or John Mellencamp. And sometimes you hear about people who start wealthy but give up their wealth to serve others, like Gandhi or the Buddha, or to serve the muse, like Wallace Shawn or Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anybody who started wealthy, stayed wealthy, and still made the world a better place. JFK or RFK, maybe, if they had lived long enough--but of course they didn't. And I _can_ think of wealthy people who stayed wealthy and made nothing of themselves, or even made the world worse (like, say, Louis XIV or George W. Bush). Perhaps wealth and leisure are just too seductive for some people to handle full-time.

All told, I would think the best would be a comfortable life with enough hard work in it to instill compassion and good habits and to remind you how difficult life can be.

There is no better acheivement on earth than earning your own riches whether they be expensive or inexpensive. To have something handed to you is a terrible injustice.

I grew up with privilege and when I moved out I was a spoiled little brat...with nothing but what I had when I moved out. I scraped nickels together through college and for the beginning of my career and now I value everything I buy right down to the toothpaste...My son is also being taught how to do things for himself, i.e. chores and such because I think that is the basis for hard work and should be taught at a young age in order to be grasped.

There is a happy median between rich and poverty, its called upper middle class , while many of us wont be rich , most of us wont be in poverty. The best thing too do is to work for what you have cause you do appreciate it and you dont take every little thing for granted. If you come into money then dont just spoil your child with everything they want let them do small things to earn new items..

Money doesnt always mean you are problem free ,

What makes many happy is that feeling after they buy something new that they worked for , its a sense of enjoyment cause they earned it

In a way poverty because if you work hard and enjoy things more then you'll have a better life, in my oppion then may one day have kids who work hard to get out of it, and if you rich and don't appriciate things then where sthe fun in that your life might not be as rewarding . Most likely (not in all cases )if you grow up like lets say paris hilton and get everything handed to you then you might not know how to work and may one day end up in poverty yourself.

It would be better to have to work hard for what you have because you really do gain an appreciation for nice things. As someone who hasn't had much in her life, when I do get nice things, for example my computer, I fully appreciate that ownership. If I were just handed my pc as a gift, I'd like it, but I'd be less cautious with it as well. I'd probably never have my firewalls up lol...!

Having things handed to you is not the way to go. Anything not earned is not appreciated. I am a college student and yesterday a 17 year old or so girl in one of those Porche Suvs passed me. That car cost more then my parents house. I am not jelous in the least. What irritates me is working hard for what I have and watching people throw away all the fine things that are just dumped in their laps.

I would like to have everything handed to me, but that will never happen. SO I have to work hard for the things that I have.

I grew up on the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Nothing was ever handed to me and I decided early on I was going to be someone. Now I have a beautiful home, go on cruises several times a year, and can honestly say 'I earned it'.. I definitely appreciate what I have now because I know what it is to be without.

From the choices given, definitely where you work hard for what you have. However, if parents know how to raise their kids good even if they have everything in the world, some turn out pretty good.

If you live were life is handed to you, you will be relaxed, but very close minded and you wont understand as much, wheras if you live in poverty, you learn good morals and lessons to life (watch the move "pursuit for happiness.")