Even Family Sees Happiness Differently

“Why do people show off?” These are the words that I asked after I was done “Skype-ing” with my family. Over the computer, they showed me how they were celebrating with the finest wines and food on the table and how great they feel to have all the glitz and glam, not to mention the new things they got last Christmas. So, the whole call went around those things without them even asking me how am I doing in a far away land with only a thin possibility of ever meeting them again in the near future. It’s like all they care is their bragging and how they accumulated things over time!

I don’t know if anyone of you ever experienced this. But I just felt worse after the call.

This led me to “Google-ling” the exact questions I have and received an answer from this site 2KnowMySelf. What struck me are these lines –

“From the outside showy people appear to be happy, possessing many things that others really want and sometimes superior. But what most people don’t know is that their inside is much different.”

Well, I can’t blame my siblings if they just feel proud of all their achievements now after we grew up to be less in life. But, honestly, for me, I have never felt bad coming from an average family as I know somebody out there perhaps is worse off than we are. I can’t and won’t complain because I know my parents work hard just to help us finish education – “the most valuable gift they can ever give” said my mum.

Better yet, who am I to be ungrateful? I believe I am blessed. To start off – good health and a wise sound mind are treasures.

At some point in my life, this saying has literally came true to me – “I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet“. Because of that incident, I changed my view. I realised that I have the responsibility to just live simply so others may indeed simply live.

Clearly, each of us in this world may just be plainly different and unique! Its because we are shaped by our own experiences and learnings. So unique that even family members have dissimilar and sometimes contrasting views.

Nevertheless, we need to celebrate the fact that life is most often a matter of choice. In order to be happy, we need not depend on others and things. We choose and decide to be merry regardless! Right?

If you think I have a point here, I will be elated to hear your comments too. Thank you for hearing me out.

Cheers to you and to life!