I am sometimes amazed at people’s desperate attempts to gain riches, power and fame at any cost. While there is nothing wrong with making money, acquiring power or seeking recognition, what galls me is the overriding effort to attain them at the cost of health, happiness, freedom and personal relationships. And I wonder if material comforts and titles are really worth the effort especially when people are unable to appreciate the beauty of their environment, the warmth of their family hearth nor able to attain peace and contentment of mind.
Far too many youngsters and corporate jet setters today are unhappy. Despite blessings like a loving family, a secure roof above their heads, good job along with supportive friends; they live not for themselves but for invisible, inanimate corporations, becoming mere cogs in a chain. As wrinkles increase, they are shocked to note that all their material comforts and titular positions only helped them obtain only greater number of ulcers, tensions, malfunctioning heartbeats, debilitating body and an unsatisfied mind. Unfortunately, remorse can neither put the clock back nor help regain the simple, innocent pleasures that were once within reach but lost due to foolish decisions.
For ages, it is well known that people become unhappy when they are out of sync with the bounties of God since every moment is a blessing that must be cherished and experienced; be it a rainbow, the moonlit night, birdsong or the close presence of our parents and loved ones nearby. The mere fact that our faculties, limbs and senses are working should make us feel grateful to God since there are countless others who don’t have even these basic gifts of nature. Yet we never deem ourselves fortunate for such extra-ordinary mercies and instead, waste our lives in despair and self-pity.
Believe it or not, happiness is the meaning and the purpose of Life, the whole aim of human existence. If only we take it easy, appreciate nature and do what we really enjoy rather than what society expects us to do, we can experience true happiness. Life is fragile and extremely short, yet human beings fail to realise it as a bubble of water that could blow apart at any moment. People take life for granted and fritter it away in worthless pursuits, just to be in step with the ways of the world and unfortunately, not many have the courage of convictions to do what they excel at and do not understand that work is necessary only to keep us alive so as to enjoy the “beauty and pleasures” of life. Life has to be a harmonious blend of work, play, music, ethics, family and personal contentment and each person has to decipher priorities without sacrificing spontaneity and instinct.
Yet we continue to neglect our health; ignore our personal relations, fail to appreciate our special hobbies and abilities, not realising that all our efforts at being top-notch achievers only end up on pages of yesterday’s newspaper at the bottom of a dustbin. None understands that awards and achievements are forgotten on eternity’s vast canvas and the world’s evaluation and applause decay after a few moments. And that long after accolades are buried and certificates wear out in the cupboards of memory, what ultimately matters is your own self-worth, your own sense of contentment of having been a worthy human being on this planet.
To me personally, if you can’t appreciate your own self as a good, caring, sensitive human being and cannot recall making a difference in the lives of your loved ones or people close to you; then your life is not worth recounting. The best people are not those who have the highest riches, majestic titles or immense power but those that spread cheer in the lives of people with their noble doings. So, it matters little who has won the maximum awards or has the biggest bank balance or has the largest empire if their hearts are devoid of love and spontaneity and their souls languish in discontentment. Obviously, then they are the world’s biggest losers and paupers.
I pray everyone be rich in contentment and happiness of the soul rather than lose their way in earning the riches of the world as nothing is worse than losing one’s own esteem and self-respect.
Amen!