I’m on a plane to Austin right now. I’m going to be meeting some customers there tomorrow and then flying back home tomorrow night. When I boarded the flight I saw a sign that said “free Wifi mid air” and it occurred to me just how wonderful these times are that we live in.
Sixty years ago it took my grandparents two weeks to escape from Romania to Israel. They huddled in trains and on ships, not quite sure where they were going or what was going to happen to them. They left behind all their belongings and faced a completely unknown future. And here I was, making a journey of about the same distance in comfort. I sip my complimentary drink and surf the web 30,000 feet above the American southwest.
Pawn Shop USA
Thanks to the free WiFi, I downloaded a new book (Broke, USA) about the poverty crisis in the US. It’s a fascinating read on how a whole industry has grown around charging poor people high interest and fees for credit and loans. It struck me that this industry lured people into dangerous waters by telling them that being happy means having stuff. It means having bigger homes, big screen TV’s, a trip to Hawaii and a diamond ring for every year you’re married. If fact, it seems like the whole US economy is geared towards that same premise of getting us to buy things we don’t need in the name of happiness.
Yet here I am, living a life of luxury compared to my grandparents and I don’t even notice it. How much more luxury do I need? Why do I assume that I should have a separate bedroom for each child when I grew up just fine sharing a room with my brother? Why do I ogle my coworker’s Lexus when my fondest teenage memory is of my beat up old Dodge Dart? Why do I wish for a seat in first class when my mom travelled for a week in the cargo hold of a freighter?
“Stuff”
It occurs to me that if I keep seeking “stuff” I will never be happy. There will always be more stuff to buy: bigger TV’s, shinier cars, larger homes and fancier vacations. What I want isn’t “stuff”, what I want is “happiness”. I have a wonderful fiancé, a dog I adore, the prospect of kids next year, caring friends, fun coworkers, a roof over my head and plenty of food to eat. What else could I possibly want?
I’ve known millionaires who were unhappy and poor people who were perfectly satisfied with what they had. Money can in fact get you happiness, but only to the point where your basic needs are satisfied. Past that point, past the amount of money at which you have food, shelter and spare time, it’s up to you to be happy with what you have.
I look at my dad, a man who spent his first 50 years chasing one goal and then another and another and another. He was never happy because there was always one more goal to be accomplished, there was always one more thing he had to prove he can do. It took him 50 years and a bout with cancer to realize how wonderful his life already was. He’s still out there trying to achieve his goals, but he’s also happier than he’s ever been just sitting at home, playing with the dog or talking to his kids.
Happiness is a choice. You either choose to be happy with what you have or you don’t.
Realizing this gives me the perfect name for my cult. I’m going to name it the cult of happy people. Because ultimately, that’s who I want to associate with. I want to be around people who have made that choice to be happy with what they have. People who aren’t caught up in the neverending chase for more “stuff”.
Again, that doesn’t mean a lack of ambition, it just means being happy with what you have, even if you are looking to get more. Life is a journey, there are always more things to do, more places to see and more goals to accomplish, but we have a choice to make as we live our individual journeys. We can choose to be happy or we can choose to delay our happiness in the name of some still to be achieved goal. We can choose to be happy only after we get married or be successful at business or have kids or get a date or score a home run, or we can choose to be happy right now, while still trying to accomplish all these things.
It’s your choice.
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I think our motto is going to be “stop and smell the roses every once in a while”
