The Greeks regarded the human form as perfect and glorified it through athletics and sculpture. In the Jewish view of Nature, God's world needs human effort to achieve perfection. Hence, circumcision, commanded by God, truly perfects the body. Chanukah celebrates Man's achievements in the world. As G.K. Chesterton felt, skyscrapers and temples are more marvelous than jungles and swamps.
Man is motivated in a way unique among creatures.
Man's strongest incentive to erect a civilization is the need felt by each individual to earn a livelihood. Chanukah reaffirms our commitment to commerce by an uncharacteristic insistence on relating the holiday to money. Coins are the traditional Chanukah gift, which would be insulting in its impersonality at any other time. The word coin itself is derived etymologically from the first syllable of Chanukah, that same syllable that means education and commerce. The Talmud actually compares a poor man to a dead person.