Week Two: Interpretation Response

I believe in the contemporary world, both of these stories are useful and both are relatable for me personally. If I were to choose one however, I would say Tolstoy's story is more "useful" mainly because greed in something we encounter daily. Many people in this country have some dream or goal they aim to achieve but their motivation is to acquire money. This is dangerous due to the fact that money is paper and once one perishes, they cannot use that worthless paper anymore. People work so hard for money and it only displays the greed in them. I believe this is Tolstoy's message to his readers. Instead of working towards acquiring money, strive for happiness because that will spread throughout the people you interact with daily. Money is only used temporarily and once it is spent, it is gone forever but happiness will never leave the heart.