Look. That is not even worth a thought. The holy grail of living is being happy and rich. Look around you, how many rich can you identify who is truly happy? If true happiness is a tad unrealistic, then observe and see if they are remotely happy. If one can attain both happiness and wealth, one pretty much win at the Game of Life. GG, EZ, Leet, thelegend27.
You read statistic of how 8 men holds as much wealth as half the world's population. The evidence of a widening rich-poor divide is apparent in every country. It doesn't takes a member of Mensa to figure out that only a very small percentage of the population gets rich and stay rich their entire lives. The odds are as good as winning the lotto. Among these small numbers, many are unhappy with their lives. Businessmen die in misery, celebrities commit suicide, politicians selling their souls to wealth, the rest have to deal with the loss of privacy, being cursed for the never ending pursuit of fame, prestige and fortune. What we have left, is very few beings being happy and rich.
Since the odds of attaining both are not in our favour, why not choose one and hope to attain both in day? I see people pursue fortune by trading their souls, lifeforce, sanity and happiness. Those are worthy sacrifices, they said. For when they get rich, they'll be able to buy back what they lost. Never gonna happen. I see happy people hoping to strike it rich one day by winning the lotto. The wise men said the fools are the happiest people and they weren't wrong. Being a fool is probably the easiest route to attain true happiness. However, not many are capable or willing to walk the path of the fools. Whatever left of my friends in Singapore are generally not rich, not happy. They moan, everyday, about work, bosses, colleagues, parents, relatives, friends, enemies, the fruit juice seller in the hawker centre and the noob taxi driver this morning. They moan about the PAP, their fucktard members and their fucked up policies but they vote for their every GE.
Well, I have no sympathy for this group. For all the choices they make for themselves are to please the others and for some reason, they position themselves among people who are hard to please. They couldn't bring themselves to vote against the government that is causing them grief, because the alternative is "worse". They couldn't quit their jobs because they needed the money to pay Marilyn. They couldn't ask Marilyn to go because they couldn't take care of Boy Boy themselves. They have to pump loads of money to groom Boy Boy so that he will "barely keep up" with the neighbours' Boy Boys. "I don't ask for my kid to top his class, all I wanted is for him to pass!" Sounds familiar? It is so bloody difficult to pass because the bar is set so high because everyone refuses to yield because everyone thinks there is no choice. That's the only way for their kids to survive in future. That obsession with the idea is passed on to their next generation. Kids grow up believing if they do badly in exams, they are finished in life. They certainly do, without even bothering to try, realising the self fulfilling prophecy their parents implanted in their minds. They end up making all their life choices to please the others and for some reason, they position themselves among people who are hard to please. They couldn't bring themselves to vote against the government that is causing them grief, because the alternative is "worse". They couldn't quit their jobs because they needed the money to pay Marilyn. They couldn't ask Marilyn to go because they couldn't take care of Boy Boy themselves. They have to pump loads of money to groom Boy Boy so that he will "barely keep up" with the neighbours' Boy Boys. "I don't ask for my kid to top his class, all I wanted is for him to pass!"
Being happy is rare. Even being rich is more common. It is so difficult to be happy because making decisions we can make to be happy often conflicts with the moral obligations, expectations and opinions of others. To fulfill those we bury our dreams, values and beliefs. It is never possible to please everyone, yet everyone dies trying.
I am near the age people normally call 'midlife.' That's optimism. A few of us die in our 50s, some in our 60s, many in our 70s and much lesser of us in the 80s and beyond. Having living more than half of my lifespan, I'll take happiness given the choice. I came to understand the availability of our choices often lies in the decisions that we make and very few of us realise we have the choice to decide.
That is the master key to unlock the door to the vault of choices. The choice to be happy is not a magic switch that turns you into a carefree fool, erasing all problems of life with an idiotic grin. It takes courage to make the decision and the perseverance to see it out. Quitting a job, going against the trend, moving out from the family, ending a toxic relationship, pursuing a dream, migrating to another country, setting up an enterprise, chasing love, none are easy and comfortable decisions.
Happiness always hide in the guise of a Pandora box and the key is always in your hands. Do you have the courage to open it?
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