by C. Robert Brown

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: April 19, 2012

Does money really bring happiness?

At first glance you're thinking "what's this guy thinking?" right? Seriously, does money really bring happiness? This question solicits a multitude of replies. Replies driven by social values, race, religion, region, occupation and the list goes on. There are a multitude of potential replies that one could receive regarding this question.

So, let's cut it down a little bit. I'm going to weigh in with my two cents because the way I look at it, the subject is about as broad as it is deep. Like anyone I have had my own special relationship with, and more often without money, how I grew up and the perspectives my parents had.

I guess about as good a place as any to start is with my parents and indirectly their parents. Let's climb up a limb or two on my family tree.

I was born, rather unexpectedly in the tail end of 1965. I was caught between the very last of the baby boomers and the coming of generation "X". My parents came from two very opposite social positions. A low key "Cinderella" story I guess you could say with my mother being the lowly servant girl and my father being the wealthy or well-to-do.

My parents, when I now consider it were an interesting mix. My father is still living and remains very active. My mother however, sadly passed away years ago and is missed deeply by my family. My mother was the offspring of second generation Irish immigrants.

My mother's parents, my grandparent's parents came to the United States seeking to escape the poverty that ensued in Ireland during the 1800's. Already, the significance of money in relation to happiness seemingly, is rearing its ugly head in my story.

Descendants of Irish potato farmers and coal miners my mother's family settled out in Altoona, PA and transformed themselves into railroaders working in the Pennsylvania yards and along the famous Horseshoe Curve. "Shanty Irish" as my mother would put it. A family so poor through the great depression that my mother and her sister spent a great deal of time living with an aunt because of the economic stresses placed upon my grandparents.

My father, however, was on the other side of the spectrum through the great depression. My father's family were a lot who migrated from Germany and England or more specifically, a mix of Welch and German blood.

My father descended from a long line of morticians or more accurately carpenters. Carpenters? Well you see in the 1800's and before burying the dead would fall to generally the most qualified

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