Living in a material world

What I read

The BBC News article "Americans find meaning in money more than friends or religion" (2018) reports the results of two surveys that the Pew Research Center released just before Thanksgiving. The surveys, both done last year, used different methods to invite Americans to say what gives meaning to their lives. Although family was rated first in both and religion relatively low, other results were very different depending on whether responded by writing in their own words or chose set responses to 15 options. In the first case, career and money were rated as most important, while in the second, high importance was given to "being outdoors [and] spending time with friends,” both of which were ranked lower in the open-ended survey.

After choosing my source, reading it a couple of times (three or four actually), choosing what to include in my summary and in what order, the above paragraph went through six reviews and revisions, with the word count changing as follows: 156 → 139 → 133 → 113 → 117 → 121. The first version was much too long: it would have earned a failing grade. After small changes, I made a more radical revision in version 4, which allowed me to add a few more words again. 

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My response 

In the beginning,
with Pawit

There were a couple of other articles that I was drawn to as I was browsing the BBC website on Friday evening looking for something that interested me so that I could write another example of responding to a story in the news. In the end, I chose this one because it was a bit surprising and also because I like Thanksgiving. I'm not American, but the story behind this most American celebration is uplifting, spiritual even, and I love the food. In fact, I've already indulged twice at Dean & DeLuca in the last week, and have a Sunday lunch engagement for more with another group of friends. 

The results of the surveys, especially the one where people were asked to simply write their own responses interested me enough that I followed the link in the BBC News article to their source, the results that were published by the Pew Research Center, which naturally gives a lot more detail, for example, that although religion rates relatively lowly for all respondents, for some groups in the population, it is very important at giving meaning to their lives, which is what I would have expected. The biggest surprise for me was that so many people rated money and jobs more highly than friends or religion. That was not what I expected. Also interesting, even a little surprising, was how very different the results were when the same thing was asked in different ways. It shows how important the design of a survey is if you want to get meaningful results. 

Not the end ...
Dessert also came

Finally, it made me think a bit about what does, and what should, make our lives valuable and meaningful. But I'll save my ideas on that for now. I'm looking forward to Sunday when my guests are arriving at 10:00 so we can walk down to MahaNakorn for another go at their delicious festive foods menu. And my friend's eleven-year-old son is also looking forward to checking out the MahaNakorn Tower skywalk, which has finally opened. He's been waiting for years! I think I'm also looking forward to that, but I might not venture out onto the glass tray protruding from the 78th floor. It makes me shiver just thinking of it. 

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My question

What things most give meaning to your life?
(This question was easy. I just copied the open-ended survey question that Pew Research asked people to respond to.) 

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Reference

• Americans find meaning in money more than friends or religion. (2018, November 22). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46306037 

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I also revised my title a couple of times. The final one is taken from an early Madonna song.

Actually, I don't like Madonna or her music that much, but this bit of nostalgia seemed appropriate. It was very popular back in 1985 when I was living in Sydney an age ago. 

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