Category Archive

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.

This is a picture I took in Lake Atitlan.  Those are two volcanoes, not mountains, 
but they represent the book very, very well.  

While most people do everything they can to avoid the topic of death, I think it’s one of the most important. We need to discuss it, think about it, read about it, and even witness it. Because, sooner or later, when we least expect it or want it, when everything is finally going right in our lives, or when absolutely nothing is, death will find us.

But that shouldn’t scare us; living inadequately should. And this is why I’m no longer afraid of death: not because I live perfectly or without error, but because I try to enjoy every single moment of my life. I do plenty of things I look back on and think, “Woops, I should’ve done that differently.” The reason I’m not afraid of death though, is because I’ve taken the time to contemplate it, and truly face it. In the process of understanding death better then, I’ve also learned to live much more fully. And that’s the key. Traveling all over the world doesn’t make me less afraid of death. Eating all the exotic foods I can find and indulging myself in delicacies doesn’t make me less afraid. What makes me less afraid of death, is knowing that every day, every minute, even as I write this sentence, I live life in every breath. While some people don’t “feel alive” until the weekend comes, or when they’re at some secluded beach, or when they’re playing a weekly game of futeca, I feel alive with every conversation. I feel alive with every class I teach. I feel alive whether I’m eating at home by myself or among friends in a beautiful restaurant. I feel alive right now because I refuse to wait until something “exciting” happens, since every moment is exciting and fulfilling in its own way.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have goals that I want to accomplish, and things I desperately want to do before I die. Matter of fact, I even have a list of five things I hope I experience before death comes knocking on my door. They are in order of importance, starting with the most pertinent of all.

1. I want to fall in love and get married. Twice, I have fallen in love, and twice, I have fallen out of love. Neither relationship ended badly, but for various reasons we discovered that we weren’t meant for each other. And, since I value marriage immensely, it is not something I will ever rush into. I can patiently wait until I find the woman who I will fall madly in love with, and spend the rest of my life with. In my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful than the true devotion a man gives to his wife, and a woman gives to her husband. And I refuse to taint something as beautiful as love and marriage, by being desperate.

2. I want to have children. (This is actually probably a tie with getting married. However, since I definitely want to be married before I have children, I thought that one should go first.) Now, since I’m a teacher, I obviously love kids. Yet being a child’s teacher, and being a child’s father are two very different things. I want a son who I can sit with at night and teach to read, tuck him into bed, and turn on his night-light so he doesn’t get scared. I want a daughter who will hold my hand as I walk her to school, ask me awkward questions about boys, and then I’ll try my best to be honest and open with her, even though I’ll hate the fact that she’s starting to like boys already. I want to have “daddy’s little girl” and I want to bond with my son. I want to help them look for colleges, and tell stories about them in front of their friends that will embarrass them. Most of all, I want to sacrifice my life to make theirs better.

3. I want to live long enough to see what my students become. Whenever I teach, I don’t just see 13-year-old kids. I try to envision them differently, and this motivates me to work harder. I see them as doctors, accountants, lawyers, business owners, photographers, writers, and so much more. Someday they will become all of these things, and I want to know that I did everything I could to teach them well. So this is what I would like. I’d like an e-mail from a student of mine 10 years from now saying something along the lines of, “Mr. Topf! It’s been so long!!! But you know, I still remember things from your class. Like that respect point thing you did. Boy, I hope you’re not still torturing the kids with that! By the way, I was wondering if it’s okay that I call you Corey now? Hahaha (jajaja). You know I’m only kidding. Well sort of. Honestly, I’m e-mailing you to let you know that I graduated from UCLA a few years ago with a psychology degree, and for the last two years I’ve been working with emotionally abused children. It’s difficult to hear their stories, but at the same time it’s so rewarding to know I’m helping them in some small way. Now I know why you loved teaching so much! Well, I just wanted to say hi and see where you’re teaching at now. Somewhere crazy I’m sure.

Much love,

Your student”

4. I want to produce a full-length film or documentary. One idea of mine is to go around to schools throughout the world and film the way children are educated. And I’m not so concerned about whether or not the film makes money or is viewed by a lot of people. I just want to go through the process of creating a tw0-hour film about a topic that will inspire me along the way.

5. Finally, and this is probably the most unrealistic, I want to take my mom to Europe. At 58 years old, she has never been on an airplane, and never left the U.S. Unfortunately, because she is confined to a wheelchair and can no longer walk, the odds of her leaving the country now are very slim. But, if one day she becomes healthy enough, and if I get crazy enough, I’m going to surprise her with an all-expense-paid trip to London, Paris, Munich, and Barcelona. Seeing the look on her face would be enough to satisfy me for the rest of my life.

But like I said, despite any dream or ambition that I have, I could die tomorrow, and I would die a happy man.

“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” – Morrie Schwartz.