by Keen Johns

Created on: October 12, 2008

This is a difficult subject to debate upon as both, as a collective topic, are to a large extent interdependent.

However, seeing a state of good health as the ultimate goal I choose to debate in favour of the health aspect of this argument.

By far the most important aspect towards the achievement of happiness throughout life's cycle is to hold a record of good health. Good health invariably promotes longevity and to some extent may be purchased through visiting a physician, as these professional people do not work for the minimum wage this can be a very expensive experience. So in some instances it is best to be of good financial standing in order to stay physically healthy.

Just as personal wealth in financial terms is the difference between what we need or desire against what we can afford, health is the difference between what we can achieve against what we would wish to achieve in physical terms. Here we can see that both wealth and health are relative within their respective disciplines. For instance a person who requires physical aids in order to manoeuvre effectively will have a different perspective on the subject of health than an able bodied person, in the counterpart, a person who has desires that are above their needs will have their individual perception of wealth.

In many cases wealth can bring its own health problems by providing the owner with more opportunities to impair health, in such cases wealth can create an aggressive chain of wealth and health dependencies from which there is little opportunity to escape. For example, wealth will provide for a faster car or motorcycle, or for involvement in extreme sports. With these "superior" lifestyles comes an enhanced opportunity to endanger ones own health, and as financial restrictions govern the abilities of any state or government provided health care, only the minimum of medical attention will be provided by these institutions in order to sustain life. Any enhancements on these services will require wealth possibly on an ongoing basis, in order to redress the balance between ones own health needs and the ability to achieve those needs. Notice that desires has left the equation here, it is in these circumstances a redundant luxury.

I have deliberately omitted to mention the possibility of any innocent third party involvement in the above example, because I consider this to be another subject in its own right, deserving another unique heading.

So wealth and health are both desirable attributes that can indeed compliment each other to provide an active and enjoyable lifestyle, providing that the recipient of these blessings places the overriding emphasis on aspects of good health, clean living, a good dietary balance and a moderate value on desires.

Good health is not for purchase at any price, but poor health is always on sale.

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