Happiness is not an Entitlement

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I find it somewhat amusing and ironic that those of us who write about personal finance seldom get credit for why we focus on this very subject. We aren’t writing with the purpose of hoarding a large sum of cash to brag about. In fact, we write about personal finance so that financial issues won’t pose any threat to our inner purpose and to live a simple, happy life.

Perhaps, our politicians are to blame for a long list of entitlements, but they have not considered happiness as an entitlement yet.

Nonetheless, my experience at a restaurant recently made me think about importance of balance between happiness and hedonism.

I happen to visit a local restaurant that I like for lunch. I really enjoy their food and quiet setting. As usual, food was delicious this time, but quietness was lost in a vociferous conversation I was destined to listen. A couple was arguing about their personal affair so I tried my best not to tune in. But, my efforts were in vain.

Wife:  What have you given me in this six years of marriage? I asked for BMW and you gave me Honda Civic. I asked for Louis Vuitton watch and you gave me a cheap one. You’ve never given me happiness.

Husband: Honey, I have never turned you down, but I can’t afford those things. Besides, we have to think about our kids and their future. We are living on one income so that you can spend more time with kids.

Wife: I quit my job for you. Now I regret that I have nothing while you are making a decent income.

Husband: I am spending every waking moment of my life to ensure that our family lives a happy life. What I make is for all of us not just myself. But, we have to understand what is important in life.

Wife: I don’t want to hear your lectures on happiness. You can’t preach happiness as you’ve never taken time to understand what makes me happy.

Husband: I truly love you and I understand what makes you happy. Unfortunately, I don’t make enough to buy you happiness.

While this conversation continued, I requested a waiter to lend me a piece of paper and a pen.

 

I quickly scribbled: Happiness is not an entitlement. Learn to earn it.

I dropped the piece of paper on their table and quickly whisked away from the scene.

You won’t be happy if you decide not to. Those who decide to embrace happiness will not allow circumstances to sabotage their happiness; and those who decide not to become happy will do so even if happiness is starring right into their eyes. Happiness is a state of mind and happiness has no nexus to hedonism.

If this lady was born 100 years ago, she still would have found reasons not to embrace happiness that was starring in her eyes.

Think about it. Stand of living in America has gone up drastically in last 50 years yet stress has taken toll on our lives. We have everything that was considered a living standard for aristocrats just 50 years ago. Perhaps, we can learn from an old generation about the importance of  simplicity and focus on those values that are backbone of a moral and noble society.

We can chat with loved ones or talk with them no matter where we live on this planet. We can share our videos or even talk live to share happiness at no cost. Yet happiness is mere mirage for some who think that they deserve it.

I now have a new-found passion to write with the chief aim to eradicate this growing voice of entitlements.

 source: streetsmartfinance.org

Pussy Riot lawyers appeal ‘punk prayer’ jailing

MOSCOW – Pussy Riot lawyers on Monday appealed the jailing of three of the Russian band members for their “punk prayer” call for Vladimir Putin’s ouster ahead of his election to a new presidential term.

The decision to contest this month’s controversial ruling came as news emerged that two other singers in the revolving-member group had fled Russia out of fear of being arrested by the police.

Defence attorney Violetta Volkova said that Pussy Riot’s appeal against the two-year imprisonment was filed with the Moscow City Court.

“All the papers are in order. The only question is whether we will need to file any additional material later,” Volkova told AFP.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina — 22 and 24 respectively and both mothers of young children — and 30-year-old Yekaterina Samutsevich burst into Russia’s main cathedral wearing their trademark balaclavas and shouted out a few lines of their protest song on February 21.

A Moscow judge ruled that the performance displayed “clear disrespect toward society” and convicted them of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”.

The ruling was instantly condemned by the United States and major European powers as another example of freedoms coming under pressure with Putin in power.

The former KGB spy was elected to a third term on March 4 after serving as president in 2000-2008 before resigning as required by the constitution while keeping most of his political powers as prime minister for four years.

The unusual case sparked a worldwide celebrity and pop star campaign for Pussy Riot’s freedom that has enlisted the likes of Bjork and Madonna as well as Paul McCartney and Sting.

But Moscow investigators responded to the global pressure by launching a hunt for two other members of the group who took part in the protest stunt but managed to avoid police detention in the subsequent months.

The group’s on-stage masks hide their identity and Pussy Riot’s lawyers said that the Moscow police admit they only know the wanted women’s identities by the nicknames they use in the band.

Tolokonnikova’s husband Pyotr Verzilov told AFP on Monday that two group members had now managed to leave Russia in order to avoid arrest.

But he refused to confirm that it was the two women wanted by the police or reveal any other details about where they had gone or when they might have left.

“The band has decided to keep this information to themselves as a security precaution,” Verzilov said.

An unofficial Twitter account used by Pussy Riot supporters claimed on Sunday that that the two members who left Russia were the ones wanted by the police.

source: interaksyon.com