The Price of Life

Sometimes I find myself feeling quite jealous of the wealth of others, particularly those fortunate with fame and popularity. I become jealous of lawyers, doctors, programmers, designers and anyone else who can apparently effortlessly obtain a significant amount of money than I.

Considering my future as a teacher, I also become hesitant on journeying on through that path because of the supposed low pay. In contrast to a lawyer, yes, teachers do get paid less. On a $60,000 annual income, it would take me one hundred and fifty years to make what top lawyers make in twenty-two years - do not even get me started on rappers who curse and cuss and diss and hate and make fools of themselves, or Disney princesses gone wrong sitting nude on wrecking balls and sticking their tongues out so much so it scares the living daylight out of every person who once had fantasised about them - so much so that ice-cream fears for its life when it is called upon by this person.

But the price of life is also important. So many people would give all of their money and more just to live another day, just to remain youthful, just to remain on this planet. Life, I have figured, is much more valuable than any amount of money earned. Sure, life can be made significantly pleasurable with more money but it cannot be made richer in essence. This is probably the basis as to why teachers continue teaching. When they claim that their jobs are 'rewarding' they are not speaking in terms of finances, rather speaking in terms of the joy that comes to them when they see the look of familiarisation and realisation and thankfulness in their students' faces. They can spend days, months, years with the absence of a high amount of money yet they are left with a high amount of joy.

When I become jealous, which happens but on rare occasions especially on those where I find amazing super-cars or muscle cars or any other thing financially unattainable and crave them, I then remind myself that the simple things necessary in life count the most, and everything else is a bonus. I tell myself that so long as I obtain a rewarding job, purchase a reliable car, and find myself the most perfect partner who loves me as divinely as I will love them, then I have the basis of what I want in my life. And when the time comes that I and my spouse have a steady enough income, children will fall into the picture. And when our children are living comfortably and getting their education they deserve, I will see to it that I help out charities which care for children unnoticed. 

I do not value the objects I desire as much as the things I need. I am content with what I have, and I am grateful. This is beginning to sound like a Thanksgiving speech, I know. But what I am trying to say is that living a happy life is possible without large financial endeavours. I am grateful that I am here, wherever that is. I am grateful that I am healthy despite my weight issue. I am grateful that I have the amount of money necessary for my daily survival, and that my family is also healthy and content also. I am grateful for the relationship I have with my mother, father and sister, and for the peaceful situation I am in. I am grateful for my education, for my academic striving, for the impact I have already left on a cohort of younger people, for the impact those younger people have left on me and for many other things that I turn a blind eye to during my moments of jealousy.

One does not need the economical prowess that is money in order for their lives to be fulfilled. They simply need things that money cannot buy, such as love, honour, and kindness. This post may sound like something Buddha would have written had he had his own blog, yet I hope it inspires you, dear reader. Be all that you can become without resorting to being jealous of others.