Money, happiness and eternal life - Greed (1/2) | DW Documentary

We are proud to announce that this documentary has just won the Best Documentary Golden Sun award at the International Environmental Film Festival (FICMA) in Barcelona - the oldest environmental film festival in the world. Congratulations to the director Jörg Seibold! :)

Worked in a funeral home for a year and changed my perspective real quick on life and what really matters. I would pick up super rich people and really poor people and at the end of the day they both get transported in a body bag and end up in a cooler until arrangements are made. Everyone was treated the same. When it’s over it’s over so make the best out of the life you have right now.

"A man is richest, when his pleasures are cheapest."

" Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end." -- Bob Marley

When my mum died (5 years after dad) I went to her home to clear things with my family. I could FEEL the emptiness. I realised that all the stuff was uselss without the person living with it!

I used to be greedy. I had so many Shoes, clothes, hats, upgrading phones all the time, taking selfies everyday and filtering them for likes and comments, and at one point I had two cars. But at the end I got ill. Very ill that I thought I was going to die, and when I recovered I realized there is more to life than being materialistic. Nowadays, I am fine having 3 pairs of shoes and one car that will take me from point a to point b, happiness for me today is being healthy and having time and good relationship with my family.

"What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul in the process?"

It's not about having everything, It's just about having enough to make yourself happy and appreciate life.

I like when he said, "We cherish values that are just not possible to attain." How indebted I am to my parents - who from my earliest infancy taught me the real meaning of life. They taught me to be prudent, modest, caring, self-sacrificing and to strive for goodness. They taught me to share with others. During COVID times I have been able to help an elderly black sick woman who lives in Cuba. I have never met her. But when I found out through friends that she was frail and sick, I made it my mission to help her. Have I met her? No! Will I ever? Mostly likely not. But how happy it makes me to be able to help her. My parents taught me to be charitable, to acquire knowledge, to consider others my equal, to be honest and truthful in all things. These are all values which are no longer cultivated by anyone. The world preaches GREED and a constant HOARDING of material goods. I live by simplicity. When I acquire one more thing, I get rid of something else. Minimalism is what I strive for.

The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in developing a capacity to enjoy less.

The world is enough for everyone's need, but never enough for one person´s greed...

The only TV station in Europe that deserves still to be funded by the public. Well done DW.

"We cherish values that are simply not possible to attain" -Sheldon Solomon

My teacher said that, the best greed is the greed for knowledge and the worst greed is the greed for money and material. Knowledge lasts forever until the end, while money and materials can deplete anytime.

I looked around one day and realized I had a consumer addiction. I couldn’t retire because I needed the money to buy more and more stuff. Then one day, out of the blue, I wanted to stop. Just stop. So I retired with enough social security and saving to live a modest but fulfilled life. I became-debt free. I started caring for the things I did have. Trust me, I had accumulated so much that I was pretty much set for life. I can I believe that I’m so happy with “less”. I am bountiful in happiness and doing my dream job: training rescue dogs for the elderly.

I think people should consider the concept of “enough”.

I belong to upper middle class abit wealthy family and I personally was proudy about it. In 2018, my father had heart failure and died literally in my arms. I literally swayed away from all the riches as even our BMWs, Expensive health insurance or our money couldn't save him. This changed me a lot and day by day I am more getting out of shackles of money/desire.

I was extremely traumatized when my mother passed away from a year long battle with cancer. I remember after her passing my sister and I went to her storage that contain family pictures, sewing machine clothes, books ect.. I stood there and look at all her things for about 10 minutes and there I realized "You really cant take it with you!"

Funny thing is that I have everything I need. When I go shopping I have no need to buy anything. Most brilliant feeling

I’ll never forget this person I met possibly addicted to greed. Would do anything for financial gain. Walked all over people without a care in the world and never paid taxes. The saddest thing was their was zero appreciation or understanding of the arts only an obsession of money and things. Such an empty soul I feel bad for these people.