MoNeY : Barometer of society's virtue ????

Who is rich ??

He who is content .
Who is content ?? NOBODY !!

Agreeing with the words of Benjamin Franklin, I feel it is pretty hard to tell what does bring actual happiness ; PoVeRtY & wEaLtH have both failed in most people's lives. And not knowing this eternal truth, we have let Money become the sixth sense without which the other five have no use.

I recently received a mail which stated how MEDIA has become a puppet in the hands of the wealthy. The popular news channel NDTV which boasts of housing the stalwarts of Indian journalism in Pranab Roy and Barkha Dutt , seems to have developed a soft corner for Pakistan since the time Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan . The national weekly India Today which used to be a supporter of BJP has suddenly realized that they are anti hindu, thanks to its take over by NDTV.

Leave aside these examples, think how do we react in our everyday scenarios. When we go to a shop to buy something, we always feel happy when we have bargained and got the thing at a lower than usual price. At the same time, when we are about to sell something, it gives us more happiness when we sell the thing at a higher than usual price. In short, we feel more satisfied on holding onto more money (when we buy) or on ending up receiving more money (when we sell). The only way more of something can be better than the less of it is if it brings more contentment. Hence do we conclude that more of money is better than less ?

If your answer is YES, have a look at the survey taken by The University of Michigan's World Values Surveys (WVS), whose data is considered the most authoritative by happiness researchers. NIGERIA which doesn't lie in the top ten rich countries of the world, is the World's happiest nation. And yet we feel we need to be enslaved to MONEY for the eternal happiness.

I came across a video clip in youtube titled "Benjamin Wallace: Does happiness have a price tag?" And I felt you would also enjoy watching it.So here it goes..

Do I mean to say MONEY plays no role in attaining happiness ?? Ofcourse not. Till the time money is within your hands' reach, you are the Master. But when you find yourself buried in the ocean of money, that's when Money starts ruling you. That's why it is found that no wonder a person earning about Rs.50,000 per month is more happy than the one earning Rs.5000 per month. But at the same time, rarely is a person who earns Rs.5,00,00,000 per month more happy than the one who earns fifty thousand in the same time. The sad thing is that the Greed within us lets us overhear our granny's words who always ask us to value health and family more than wealth and stuff and let Money overpower us.

In a nut shell, let me recollect the words of Robert Brault, who said, "The little money I have - that is my wealth, but the things I have for which I would not take money, that is my treasure!" Wealth is no doubt essential, but it would be of no use unless you possess the Treasure of your life too. And we need to realize that Money is not the ultimate treasure we seek in life !

ONE chance is all U need ....

1831 : Lost his job

1832 : Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature

1833 : Failed in Business

1835 : Sweetheart died

1836 : Had a nervous breakdown

1838 : Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker

1843 : Defeated in run for nomination for US Congress

1848 : Lost re-nomination

1849 : Rejected for Land officer position

1854 : Defeated in run for US Senate

1856 : Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President

1858 : Again defeated in run for US Senate

1860 : ELECTED AS PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

That looks a pretty glum resume, making one wonder how he became one of the greatest presidents of USA.He is none other than Abraham Lincoln. Just imagine, had he given up in between, the world would have missed a great leader.

What can we learn from this success story ? When you can think of yesterday without regret and tomorrow without fear, we are near contentment. And that is exactly what I have tried to portray in the picture above. Our little friend, hmmm..let's name him Mr.TODAY was a failure yesterday. Instead of learning from his mistakes and moving ahead, he kept cribbing at his past. And what happened in the process ? He failed to see that Victory was in store for him the next day.

There are numerous examples that can be given to prove that yesterday's failure can be turned into tomorrow's success story. Can you believe that a man who had speech difficulty as a child and who failed in his university entrance test is today considered as the Father of Science ( Albert Einstein ). A lady (read Sudha Chandran) who lost her leg in an accident has today danced her way to fame at the international level with the support of a Jaipur Foot. A man who had less than 50% of survival chance after being detected with stage three testicular cancer is a Cycling legend today with record breaking victories at the Tour de France for 7 times. (Read Lance Amstrong).

Deaf, Blind and mute and yet she (Read Helen Keller) has attained her nation's highest civilian honour, Presidential Medal of Freedom. Think of Hollywood and comes to our mind, Tom Cruise. But do you know he was severely dyslexic as a kid and lived his entire childhood in poverty. Same is the case of the legend who gave MONALISA to the world (Surprised? Leonardo Da Vinci had disabilities like dyslexia and attention deficit disorder).

To site a real life hero, Ben Underwoodtaught is blind, both of his eyes were removed (cancer) when he was 3. Yet, he plays basketball, rides on a bicycle, and lives a quite normal life. He taught himself to use echo location to navigate around the world. With no guide-dogs, he doesn't even need hands: he uses sound. Ben makes a short click sound that bounces back from objects. Amazingly, his ears pick up the echos to let him know where the objects are. He's the only person in the world who sees using nothing but echo location, like a sonar or a dolphin.

To put it in a nutshell, I would like to bring forth a reality of life. Too many times we stand aside and let the waters slip away, till what we put off till tomorrow has now become today. So don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide. As Kahlil Gibran rightly says, "Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream". It is upto you whether you want to turn your dream into reality !!!

Sometimes things which we seek are not worth the things we lose..

"BILLIONAIRE TRADED MATERIALISM FOR TRUE HAPPINESS", was the headline in one of the articles posted on the Internet which made me curiously read through the entire text. It spoke about Thomas Monaghan , the co-founder of Dominos Pizza who sold the company in 1998 for $1 billion at age 61. Raised in an orphanage, Monaghan says he went through an unfulfilling materialistic phase when he became rich.

It suddenly triggered a question in my mind as to WHAT GIVES ONE TRUE HAPPINESS ? Thomas Monaghan had every possible materialistic luxury at his disposal. Yet he wasn't happy. That reminded me of another contrasting story of a village by a sea shore where the pre-dominant occupation used to be fishing.

A harvard graduate once happened to pass by the village and he complimented them on the quality of the fishes there and asked how long it took to catch them. The villagers replied,"Not much time." When the graduate asked them as to why don't they stay for long and collect more fishes, the villagers said that it was sufficient to satisfy their needs. And they could spend rest of their time with friends and family having drinks together, playing and having fun.

The graduate interrupted and put forth all his management knowlegde giving them ideas as to how by fishing longer, they can collect more fishes, buy more boats from the extra revenue earned and therby expand their business.The villagers asked, "How long would that take ?" He replied, "20 to 25 years". The villagers immediately asked,"Then what ?". To which the graduate said, "Then you can retire, spend quality time with family and friends and have all the fun." The villagers laughed sarcastically and said, "When we are already doing it now, then why waste such long time not enjoying ?

In short, best things in life aren't things. There must be more to life than having everything. So the next time YOU pursue towards a particular goal in life, do make sure if your pursual is worth the time you are investing in.