I will continue to believe that honesty is the best policy, no matter what. Integrity, pride and loyalty are traits that I was taught from the beginning by my mom and dad, but were put to a test as I grew older. Throughout my life, I could have gotten married for security reasons, but that wouldn’t have been fair to the 3 wealthy older men that wanted to marry me at different times.
I love my independence, but with age comes wisdom as they say, and I would have been wiser to at least have secured a financial future by marrying at least one of them. I could have taken advantage and lived well, but I made a decision to stay friends and lose all hope of living well and not having to stress about paying my bills. I chose to work hard and not depend on anyone else for support and I still feel right about my decision, although “gold diggers” are well known in my time. My conscience is clear and that is important to me.
There is no gray area where right and wrong is concerned, but some of us feel otherwise. Money has become the one thing many people want so much that people will lie, cheat, steal, hurt and even kill for. We are in a world that considers wealth as a powerful tool in a quest for fame and respect. I have always worked hard for my living and if I am not in a place that I would like to be right now, I cannot blame anyone else for that, although the economy hasn’t helped. I have never lied or cheated to get it and I never will. The decisions I make could be right ones or wrong ones, but they are my decisions and they are based on the morals grew up with. Needless to say, I sleep well at night.
My Definition of Happiness
What would make me happy? If I were to become a millionaire overnight, I would be extremely happy because I would be able to give the people in my life things they need and cannot afford on their own. I do not think it would cause headaches the way some people think. I would know who my friends are because I already found out. You find this out when you have nothing. Most of my so-called friends dropped me from their list when I hit bottom.
The few that hung on would be the only people I would consider friends. I do not require many people hanging around me to feel popular. I was at my happiness when I went to Germany with my mother before she passed away. She was able to see her remaining family one last time. It was a bittersweet time for me since everyone has passed on since then. I have lifelong memories that will never end because of that time.
There is a saying “Money is the root of all evil” from the New Testament (1 Timothy 6:10 which originally is “The love of money is the root of all evil”). That is not necessarily the case with me. People with money and power just seem to want more of it when they have it. I know it would be different for me. So the number one item on my list is MONEY. From that point on, I can buy happiness for myself, as well as, the people around me. That sounds terrible, I know. But without it, how would you survive?
This world I live in puts you in categories, like, homeless, low income, middle income, high income and wealthy. When you are in the bottom three categories, you almost never get any further. Having money lets you be heard because people tend to listen to people with money. I don’t care how nice a person you are, unless you have a bank account, no one will stop to listen to you to find out. So, bottom line, money would make me happy and the rest of my happiness falls into place after that.
So, does that mean I will never be happy? Not at all. I wouldn’t be happy if I had the responsibility of keeping up with the Joneses. Maybe I would like to be one of the Joneses for a change, but when reality sets in and I realize that isn’t in the cards for me, I can be happy with a few things and lots of things, because things are just that: things. If you lose them, you can get them back. You can’t do that with people.
When you lose them, they are gone. So being happy while they are with you, rather than working yourself to death and never seeing anyone will make me feel better about myself and that makes me happy. I won’t look back and think, “shoulda, woulda, coulda” because I did. Wish it was that easy especially when you’re younger and think you have so much time to do the simple things at a later date, but then that date catches up to you and you realize just how fast time goes by. Life is too short and it gets shorter if you’re constantly worrying about money.
So THAT’S what would make me happiest, to be able to provide for my friends and family and have the time to spend with them without the constant worrying about the Joneses down the street and what THEY think. As long as I’m not doing anything to hurt anyone, I don’t care what they think.
What is my definition of happiness?: I am happy with the basic necessities of life, like a roof over my head, my bills paid, transportation and some money in my pocket for essentials. Having family and good friends completes my happiness. That is my definition of happiness. Money would just enhance my happiness but I have lived without it and have been happy and will continue to be happy that I am alive and well and have what I need to survive, like people I trust, loyalty, family and friends, the basic necessities, everything I need.
Having no regrets in my life completes my definition of happiness. I’m not saying that there are some things I wish I would have done differently and I’m also not saying that there aren’t times that I look back and regret a decision or two that I wished I could change, but that’s looking backwards and you just can’t change it no matter how hard you wished you could. So happiness is having FEW regrets and making the most of your time spent with family and friends and living life the best we can and looking forward to the weekend.
