Has anyone watched Will Smith’s movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”?
Money does not mean greater happiness and when there is a crisis, count your blessings. Agreed, but would I dare tell this to a person whose job is online or who lost loads of money in the stock market? Or who, like Will Smith in the movie, has rent to pay and a little boy to look after (and a painful wife’s distrust to answer to)? One look at the faces of the experts on the business channels and you can make out the state of Sensex on that particular day. They are not just advisors, I am sure they have make big investments themselves. A close look at the faces of the people who work in our household and one wonders, how can they smile and forget about their wretched living conditions. My domestic help’s daughter came to me today and blushingly stood beside me. There was something she wanted to talk to me about. The look on her face said that she didn’t want loan from me. What could it be then? Not before long she said- auntie, I am getting married next month, my friends in the neighbourhood say I am fat and should lose weight before marriage. How can I lose wight? I smiled at her and asked her, just have a look at me, if I knew, don’t you think I would be slimmer? Her embarrassed look said it all, she agreed with me. I gave her a few tips on how to lose weight but she left me wondering, does money buy happiness? If it did, she should be miserable, her father is a drunkard, brother doesn’t support the family, grandfather is dominating and her poor mother is neck deep in debt and will probably sink into it deeper as the wedding proceeds. Both mother and daughter work from morning to evening, walk for miles to save money and can barely manage to feed the family. Still they look happy.
Money can not the only reason for happiness, it can buy comforts but not happiness. The people who are unhappy because of the falling markets, how happy were they before the crash? When the markets were soaring, greed was the cause of unhappiness, now it is the fear of losing that is bothering them. I read a sticker on a bumper which said “Money can’t buy happiness but it sure makes misery easier to live with”. Money certainly matters , even if it does not guarantee happiness but how much is enough? After a certain point the life style remains the same, after that what? Whenever I hear about the Ambani brothers fighting over money I wonder if they even know how much they have? Both are amongst the richest Indians, in fact the richest people on earth. How much money can they ever use? They own aeroplanes, mansions, buildings, factories and all that money can buy and still tons and tons of money lying unused. Yet they are fighting for money. One can imagine how happy Kokila Ben should be in spite of all the money she has.
Some days ago I was surprised to read somewhere (I don’t remember the source) that the King of Bhutan has made happiness a national goal. According to the king measure of progress must include the spiritual and cultural well-being of the people, the state of the environment and good governance. He uses the term Gross National Happiness. GNH should be as important as GDP or GNP. To be happy you need a cause or a hobby which has nothing to do with money. Even if there is a sudden dip in income, if you have something to look forward to it is easier to cope with stress. It helps if you have friends and family. In some cases pets can be of a great help in times of stress.
As Alexandre Dumas rightly said, “do not value money for any more nor any less than its worth; it is a good servant but a bad master”.
from Vishesh :)
from Reema :)
27 Comments
November 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I saw pursuit of happyness before, and that I should say, has given me food for thought……I have been a blogger only for a couple of months now and 2 of my posts seem to me as a unconscious after effect of this movie….I love the film…and I agree to what you say…Money is not everything…as long as we don’t get carried away in its power, and can have control…how much ever we have or how little we have we can be happy!!!
Great post, first time on your blog
and I am sure I shall be often seen here J
November 17, 2008 at 9:20 pm
One of the biggest questions that I have asked myself is…..What is my purpose in life? After quitting my job in 2006 as a nurse, I am learning to lead a simmple life. My husband divorced me and then stuck me with the truck payment of $610.00 a month. Five months later I was rear ended by a semi. That got rid of the truck payment. Now in three years I will be wealthy because of an injury settlement. Will the money make me happy? No. The only way to true happiness is counting my daily blessings of being alive. Money can only help me with my basic necessities.
November 17, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Very thought-provoking post. Dumas was right. Money is a very bad master indeed. How much is enough? Does it give happiness?
Both questions have only relative answers. Bill Gates may have mountains of money, but that doesn’t matter to me. What really matters is how much does my best friend or my brother have. If they have as much or less, I am not troubled. But if any one of them steals a march, then I become miserable, because then I become relatively poorer. If the reverse happens, I believe that I am happier because of the gap is in my favour. That is why Anil and Mukesh are fighting.
The poor are more ‘miserable’ but are usually happier than many of us because they have very little to lose and worry about. They work in our houses merrily, having psyched themselves into believing that we are in a different league…their Ambanis. Another reason is that they happily share whatever little they have with others, getting and giving simple joy. We weigh the cost against benefits, plus many other things before we give only a little of the lot we have. Where is the joy in this?
November 17, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Prerna:
I find no conflict between money and happiness. Indeed, one can find both, neither, or one of the two.
If I were rich, I would be happy that I was productive and earning money ethically. If I were poor, I would make earning money in that particular way a priority for practical and philosophical reasons. Earning money is a reflection of what your work is considered worth by the rest of the world. It does not mean that not earning money is unworthy. That said, the best things in life are free: health, trust, love, etc. are earned by one’s deeds (at least they used to be when I was lovable and trustworthy)!
November 17, 2008 at 10:22 pm
with the y,for you,in there
November 17, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I think u mean this post.
http: //destinationinfinity.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/bhutan-gross-national-happiness-democracy-and/
Money isnt everything. I see people running around in pursuit of the eternally elusive happiness because the definition of happiness in their minds is something else. For me happiness at this very moment is getting a good sleep and if I have that I’m happy. No costly bedsheet and pillow can give me that with their price. It will come due to a relaxed mind and a tired body. And getting up late? Its the icing on the cake!
November 17, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Pursuit of happiness is one of the best movies I have seen. They show the virtue of hard work and determination quite well there. They show the ill effects of not having enough money. What they don’t show – you can see in this movie: Taxi 9211(hindi). An excellent concept brought forward in a clear and simple style. I like the messages of both the movies. The circle of life, I guess.
November 18, 2008 at 4:57 am
@ Prerna : It was indeed the former King Jigme Singey Wangchuk who said that. He lived in a simple house over Thimphu most of his time and retired early. Sometimes having everything can make you realise the real value of things and sometimes having nothing at all can do that as well. It is often the case that people crave for things because they have some other voids that need filling up. If you ever go on shopping alone by yourself you will almost always end up buying something whether you like it or not just to make yourself feel good because you do not have ‘company’. We as humans often tend to compensate ourselves irrationally if we feel empty.
November 18, 2008 at 9:04 am
The more I venture into the countryside I am convinced that money does not mean everything, rather it has an inverse relation to happiness. Bhutan is a living experiment of GNH and I am eager to explore it shortly. Money is always based on speculation, nobody knows the real value. Not the same for other unmeasurable stuff like love, friendship, goodwill, etc.
November 18, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The film and the journey of Christopher Gardner was very touching. I can best remember the following dialogue from the film.
” It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that? (Quote from the movie).”
November 18, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Welcome and thanks Sahaja.
Welcome @deliveryqueen. You are so right /The only way to true happiness is counting my daily blessings of being alive/.
Vinod, you have analysed it very well. I fully agree with you.
Rambodoc, I don’t agree with you-/Earning money is a reflection of what your work is considered worth by the rest of the world/- the scientists who made Chandrayan successful aren’t paid very well yet their capability is acknowledged world over. The doctors working in AIIMS are not less capable than the ones working in private hospitals although they are paid much less. Sometimes money earning capacity depends on the priorities in life also.
Thank you Vishesh.
Thanks for the link Reema.
You are right, @ Odzer /people crave for things because they have some other voids that need filling up/.
Thanks Priyank.
Nice quote Ammar.
November 18, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Happiness can create more value than money can buy.
November 18, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Philosophical post. I too agree with doc that there is no conflict between money and happiness but it is something to do with our attitude. In fact as I said on doc’s post today, I believe that each of us has a happiness index and circumstances can make it go up or down temporarily but finally we come down to the level we have.
November 19, 2008 at 1:24 am
I’m reminded of this quote: “There’s no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”
November 19, 2008 at 5:27 am
Prerna:
That does not change the facts: the scientists may be good, but they are getting paid what the Government thinks they should pay them. In the private sector they would probably realise their true worth, but that is another story.
I am not saying people who don’t get well paid are not good. I am only saying people who get well paid get so because the world gives that value to their work, for right or wrong. A lousy painter may sell for millions, while a genius may die in poverty: don’t we all know it?
November 19, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Different things make different people happy, so the one constant that coexists with happiness is freedom. Freedom does not cause happiness, but when one is free, one of the many things one is free to do is pursue happiness. Freedom means choices, and money buys choice. If you become a slave to money, then your not free anymore. It is the freedom money can buy and not the money that allows one to pursue happiness.
November 19, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Intellectuals do tend towards a state of denial when it comes to money. Happiness is about being able to get more from life. We need money to keep our health, our relationships, our social status/respect, and of course our self esteem/honour/image. Money can even buy beauty and intelligence, since rich people have the freedom to pick and choose from the genetic pool. But that doesn’t mean all poor people are unhappy people. Humans have marvelous ways to adapt to/ substitute, or just shut out on what they lack.
And then, there are limits to both happiness and pain. You can’t get happier beyond a certain limit and you also can’t get unhappy beyond your human capacity.
November 19, 2008 at 9:56 pm
This is a very nice post. I loved it. Anything that is attached to financial benefits can bring us temporary happiness but if we lose money there we get into sorrow. That is why like the quote that you quoted, you should use the money as your servant to fulfill your basic needs, but you shouldnt let money Rule you.
There was a Rajinikanth song that said “If you have some money in your hand then you are it’s master, but if you have money till your neck then that is your master”. We also have to know that we don’ t take a penny with us when we die. But we can leave a legacy of being a great human when we lived. I also liked the idea of GNH.
November 20, 2008 at 12:20 am
hey hi i’m new to ur blog……………ur post is very intresting………every part of it is true…………..money just can’t buy happiness…………..it just provides us temporary happiness which does not last long………………a person is said to have lived a good life if he lead it happily not if he earned some millions and left them unused…………..the idea of GNH is really great……….
November 20, 2008 at 3:20 am
So true! But sadly we never realize the value of what we have until we are thrown down to a messier spot. Who needs ‘em riches, just take me up to where I was standing – you’d want to say!
November 20, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Nice post. What I am noticing around here is that lots of people earned a lot of money in the last few years (real estate!!), but not even a tenth of them have time or interest in spending that money to enjoy life. All they do is try to earn more.
BTW, I came across this book “Geography of Bliss”. Talks about the same thing. Check it out.
November 22, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Good post. I guess if people believe that money can bring happiness, my question to them is how much do you need to be happy?
I am sure noone could answer that.
November 22, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Money can be a source of happiness if we curb our ever expanding goals. As soon as one goal gets fulfilled, we hop on to another one which costs even more. That is when the problem starts.
Money should be one of the peripherals of life and not the central point.
November 24, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I watched that movies yesterday and it made a lasting impression on me. The movie was more about following your dreams and pursuing what makes you really happy…at least thats what I gather from waching that movie
November 26, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Very well said @ Truthwalker /It is the freedom money can buy and not the money that allows one to pursue happiness./ Unfortunately I haven’t met many people who could remain free after being rich.
Baryaal, I am not so sure/We need money to keep our health, our relationships, our social status/respect, and of course our self esteem/honour/image/. There are more unhealthy rich people than poor, self esteem cannot be dependent on money alone and a paan waala who earns more than an IT professional or doctor cannot command more respect because of his being richer.
Welcome and thanks Arvind.
Welcome and thanks @Vamsee.
Thanks Xylene. Good question, I am looking for an answer too.
Well said Amit.
Thanks Lubna, I loved the movie too.
November 27, 2008 at 9:19 pm
hello aunty
November 27, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Thanks for the insightful comment Dushyant