Money Cannot Buy Happiness. Really?

I must have heard this expression a thousand times since my school days. It’s one of those worldly facts which we keep assimilating, passively, without even questioning their validity and relevance in the present times. I guess such thoughts must have erupted, in ancient times, in the minds of a few learned people living in a completely different era (than ours) where adages like ‘simple living and high thinking’ were vehemently propagated and practiced on daily basis. I’m not sure how far, in the existing world, where we staunchly believe in ‘money makes the mare go’, can the role of ‘money’ in bringing happiness, be outrightly denied. You don’t agree with me? Ok let’s find out by asking.....

1. An unemployed man (with dependant wife and children) who survives on food stamps and lives under a constant fear of losing his rented apartment just because he has enough money to pay his bills for one month.

2. A minor child who is compelled to quit school and work, on a meager daily wage, for providing food to his younger siblings.

3. A mother who, only to ensure that her kids do not starve, is left with no choice but to resort to prostitution.

4. A promising student, who is brilliant, but cannot attain some fancy college education for lack of money and finally succumbs to financial pressures at home and ends up working 60 hrs a week, doing some menial jobs. What a waste!

5. A young toddler who secretly envies his friends, living in the neighborhood, when he watches them play with expensive toys.

6. An orphan who never gets the privilege of living in a protected and sheltered environment. Ask him, what Christmas means to him without celebrations and gifts. Ever seen his empty eyes?

7. A homeless who has to live a life full of pretensions in front of his co-workers. Can you guess what his major problem is, apart from not being able to afford an apartment? What else but finding a place every morning for taking a shower. The other day a news channel reported 8% of (working class) New Yorkers as homeless and these people were shown attending college and working for a living like everybody else. Wonder how challenging life could be for them! Reminds me of Chris Gardner who rose from a homeless single parent to a successful stockbroker in California.

8. A grieving wife who is forced to sell her house to liquidate the debts of her dead husband.

9. A tormented mother who helplessly watches her child (suffering from cancer) slowly crawling towards death for not being able to pay for the medical bills. Ever imagined how horrible and humiliating asking for donations can be?

10. A woman, who spent twenty years of her life under the illusion that her future was secure and would be taken care of by her husband, ends up being divorced by her man for another younger woman. To add salt to the injury, her college going son chooses to live with his father only because he knows that his mother would not be able to take care of his financial needs. Imagine the plight of such a despondent woman who finds herself with no shelter and no money to sustain in the event of a pre-nuptial agreement, which she had, at one time, signed in good faith and out of love.

The list is endless and so is the untold misery of countless people who struggle to survive on the same planet as we do. If money can bring happiness in the lives of all such needy people then who are those people who say money is not important. Obviously…the ones who have it or those who have lost interest in the material side of the world as a result of some traumatic experiences. Well, they might have other reasons to be unhappy and disgruntled with their lives but then life is like that….incomplete.Sadly, we spend most of our time, whining and praying for something we don’t have, whether it’s money or love. Life is supposed to be full of abundance which has to be a composite of health, wealth and happiness. The paucity of even one of the stated factors leads to discontentment, disillusionment, negativity, emotional disturbance and in extreme cases, can result in mental disorders and disorientation. So to say that money is not important, is nothing but one big hypocritical statement. Money can, undoubtedly, buy happiness and mental peace to a great extent in the kind of world we are living in. In fact, if we look closer, we’ll find that at least three-fourths of the exploitation cases have their roots in ‘financial inadequacy’ of the ones who are exploited.

http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org

Our pledge

Admittedly, we cannot help all the needy and poor of this world but we can least try to brighten up the empty and desolate lives of a few children who have been chosen to live a kind of life which no child deserves. On this Christmas let all of us promise to ourselves that we would make a humble and sincere effort to bring smile on the faces of a few children who spend their entire childhood, deprived of the comfort and luxury of a home and parental care. Let’s make our own kids realize how fortunate they are and how grateful they should be for all that God has given them. It won’t be a bad idea to pay a visit to a shelter with your kids and ask them to spend time with the inmates. I’m sure by the time they come back home they would’ve stopped complaining about the things they don’t possess.

Merry Christmas to all of you.