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There’s this belief out there, shared by many people, that money does not in fact equal happiness. I even used to share the same conviction. However, after some recent ruminating, I’ve discovered that yes, however unfortunate it may be, money does have a direct and indirect impact on happiness.
Now, before you start hurling insults and labels at me like, “You materialistic gold digger,” let me explain.
HEALTH
I think everyone would agree that being healthy is one of the biggest indicators of happiness. If I am in good shape, don’t have any major illnesses or ailments, and eat well, that would certainly help me to be happy. Just as being in severe pain or obese could easily push me towards being unhappy. Well, in this case, money definitely plays a role. With money I can buy healthier food, pay for better medicine, live in a healthier environment even. Take a simple example of the people in Guatemala who are forced to cook with firewood in their homes, without the smoke ever escaping. They don’t do this for any other reason than they can’t afford a better stove. And, in the process, thousands of children and women die every year because of respiratory problems. With more money, they could buy better stoves, be healthier, and be happier.
SAFETY
Especially nowadays, safety is a huge indicator of happiness. If I fear being shot, robbed, or assaulted everywhere I go, it’s going to be difficult finding peace of mind. But if you look at the wealthiest countries in the world, or even the wealthiest areas of a city, typically they are the safest. The inverse is true as well. The poorest areas are often the most dangerous. Once again, money itself isn’t making people happy, but it certainly is purchasing things which make it easier to escape suffering.
EDUCATION
Education should be provided at a high level to everyone, but it isn’t. Whether it’s the best universities or the best schools, they are often extremely expensive. And, no one can argue that the more educated you are, the more you’ll understand about the world, and the more you’ll be able to do. If I can speak three languages, use computers, sing, play a sport, read and write powerfully, and travel the world, then I’m going to have a much easier time finding happiness. Once again, money enables these things to be possible.
I could go on and on, but the sad reality is that money does play a role in happiness. Without a doubt happiness can and should be found in the simplest of tasks each day: the waking up of a child, a hello from a friend, the taste of a familiar food. So even the poorest among us can find happiness each and every day, just as the wealthiest among us lose perspective and suffer far more. In general though, I don’t know many people who wouldn’t want HEALTH, SAFETY, and QUALITY EDUCATION. All things which money DEFINITELY CAN BUY.
Hace un mes, un fotógrafo de EEUU estaba en iraq para tomar las fotos de la situación allí. Durante uno de su primeros días, fue una bomba de suicidio y él capturó una escena horrifica. Tomó las fotos de partes del cuerpos dispersado en la tierra. Las fotos de muertes: soldados, iraquis, niños. En una foto fijado en su blog (http://www.zoriah.net) puede ver una mano en la tierra. Solamente la mano y nada más.
¿Por que es importante hablar de esta? Porque unos días después de fijar las fotos en su blog, un General de los Marines le quitó a el de iraq. El General de los Marines se enojó porque él no quiso las fotos en la página de web, pero el fotógrafo no las quitó porque él sabía la importancia de esas fotos.
Yo entiendo la importancia también. Yo Podría describir un momento con palabras y una persona podría entender y visualizarlo también. Sin embargo, con una foto y palabras, tenemos evidencia, tenemos la realidad completamente. Por eso, necesitamos tener la libertad para tomar fotos, para capturar una épica, y para expresar lo que vemos.
Nunca subestimar el poder de la fotografía. Las fotos pueden luminar tragedias y reilaciones, tristezas y celebraciones. Las fotos cambian los pensamientos y nos inspiran. Eso fue lo que se enojó el General de los Marines. En este momento, cuando sus soldados están golpeando en una guerra, el necesita apoyo de ellos y de la gente en EEUU. Pero, él sabe que la realidad de esta guerra podría influenciar negativamente los opiniones de los demás. Sin fotos, es más fácil mentir porque fotos nos dan la verdad.
I met a doctor a few weeks ago from the US. She was here in Guatemala doing some volunteer work at a hospital near Lake Atitlan, and she’d been in Guatemala for about a year. Unfortunately she was leaving when I met her so this is not a story of romance. She did, however, need a ride to the airport, and since a friend of mine was lending me his car for the summer, I thought it only right to continue this chain of positive karma and give her a ride. This doctor, Kate is her name actually, gave me a book she had just finished called, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
Kate explained briefly that the book was non-fiction, and about a doctor who goes to different countries throughout the world to practice medicine on people who cannot afford decent healthcare. I was obviously grateful for the gift, but my first reaction was that I would probably set the book down on a shelf and never open it. But then, by chance, I did open it, and I even started reading it.
The book is over 300 pages long but I read it in only a few days. I read it while lying in bed, waiting for a couple planes back to Iowa, and even while on a boat in the Missouri river while my brother was wake-boarding. Why? Because it’s damn good. It’s inspirational. It’s eye-opening. And although I am extremely content being a teacher, it even made me want to become a doctor a little.
But this is not an advertising campaign for Mountains Beyond Mountains, which you can buy for a little more than $10.00 at Overstock.com with $2.95 shipping. No, I wouldn’t do that. :) What’s motivated me to write is the title of the book.
Now, I have no idea what Tracy Kidder intended by the title, but here’s my interpretation, and why I like it so much. He could’ve titled it, Valleys Beyond Mountains, or Paradise Beyond Mountains, or Glory Beyond Mountains. But he didn’t. I’m glad.
For me, the idea is simple. We often believe that once we clear a hurdle, or overcome a challenge, things will get so much easier. We’re told this all our lives. Just get through high school, gain your independence and college will be so much better. Graduate college and get the job of your dreams! Find the person you love and get married! We assume that all these things will be the icing on the cake and make our lives so much easier. The reality though, in each one of these cases is that even when we climb this mountain, or achieve something great, there will be more mountains, more challenges, and more struggles. That’s life. And although a pessimist or a nihilist might be a bit forlorn about this outlook, I love it.
I know that when I get married one day it’s not going to be all rainbows and butterflies as the song says. My wife and I will fight, we’ll disagree, we’ll embarrass each other, and we’ll have to overcome obstacles. Each year when I teach, I will upset students, make mistakes, and feel like there is never enough time to accomplish everything I want. But in the process of climbing these mountains, regardless of the fact that there will undoubtedly be mountains afterwards, we mature in so many ways.
This, I believe, is the idea of the book. Paul Farmer, the doctor in the story, goes from Haiti to Chile to Russia saving people’s lives by treating tuberculosis. He literally saves hundreds of thousands of lives. And all the while he’s doing this, he begins to realize how many more need saving. At one point he walks more than eight hours to a remote Haitian village to treat a man with TB. When he gets there he realize the rest of the family members are suffering from the disease as well. He climbs an enormous “mountain” only to discover that there are even more “mountains” in the process. Yet he never gives up. He continues to climb.
We must continue to climb.
