Tag: Happiness and guilt

B. Lorenzo Buckinchere

Jan 28, 2024

Well, it depends on the individual. But personally, it makes me very happy. Let me explain!

I awake each “morning,” and roll over in my bed to check the time. Then I put on my robe, open my drapes to observe the scenery before making my bed. I then go to the bathroom to void my bladder. After I wash my hands, I go into my refrigerator to pour myself a glass of my favorite beverage that I sip on while I prepare a meal of my choice (I don’t like continental breakfast). I eat to the sound of whatever it is that I chose to hear, be it music, or podcast. Then I do the dishes before checking my daily schedule to see if I have any errands to run on the road for that day in question. I then shower before getting dressed in the clothing of my choice. Then I get in my car, where I select the playlist of my choice.

If I said “My Choice” a lot just now, well that is because it is impossible for me to be happy if I can’t have it my way. That is why I have made a conscious decision to remain a bachelor halfway through my thirties, and will likely still be a bachelor at 80. Having one’s own way is not a luxury that many can afford. So the money does not make me happy by itself, it is what you buy with it. For me, it is being afforded the privacy and security that I could not take for granted during my early twenties when I first arrived in the US, and was living with toxic ex-relatives in Brooklyn. For me, it is being afforded the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation that the homeless, and the orphans would consider a luxury.

Being afforded the privilege of enjoying this luxury is one that makes me very happy because I am a minimalist at heart, and it doesn’t take much to make me happy. Only my space, my freedom, and a little bit of hedonistic indulgence that’s all. My materialism mostly plays itself out as it relates to domestic comfort. I don’t care about buying all those fancy shoes, cars and jewelry to impress a bunch of assholes I could care less about. With that said, half my burden has already been neutralized. If you need all those materialistic items to make you happy, it might make you temporarily happy. But once again, it depends on the individual.

My guess is that it probably would not make you happy in the long term. That is because your motivations are all about impressing those who are external to yourself. This is something that is deeply rooted in ego and insecurity. The need to fill a gap that only God, or yourself can fill. Not money or the superficial praise you get from your peers. I have never had that problem, and at this point, I likely never will. I have always understood the true value of money. Yet the people who are exactly as I have described, have always fought tooth and nail to keep money out of my hands.

Is it that they are insecure that I could be so happy with so little, and they can’t? Are they afraid that I might actually expose them by the very comparison of how I choose to live my own life versus how they choose to live theirs? Whether or not that is the case, I cannot imagine a person who is truly content with their own lives trying to tear someone else down, out of envy, and competition. Can you? Do you still think they are happy, or that money makes them happy?

Were they actually content with their lives until the moment I happened to show up with my satisfied, minimalist self? Did I trigger their hidden demons when I showed up? Whether or not I triggered their demons is irrelevant. The bottom line is that they still had them regardless. If anything, I made them undeniably aware that they have a problem. And it is now up to them to either get some professional help, or keep being a criminal menace until the day they mess with the wrong person and pick up a knuckle sandwich in their rassclaat.

Did you know that many millionaires live quiet, minimalist lives? They drive a 2008 Camry, live in suburban homes, and are very happy. You see them everyday, and you would never know that they are wealthy. This is what is known as being frugal, which is not to be confused with being a cheapskate. Have you ever heard of someone named Warren Buffet? He’s the real deal, and I take off my hat to the investment genius. Can you guarantee that your next door neighbor isn’t a millionaire? If they are, I am willing to gamble that they are far happier than the fake rich freaks of nature, who are trying to live beyond their means to impress people.

If you like purchasing expensive brand name items because it makes you truly happy without you caring about impressing other people, then you are an exception, and I must commend you for your exceptional character. You are not who I am talking about. You are actually more like me. The difference is that you care about expensive brand names, and I don’t. I don’t see any reason why we can’t respect each other. Do you?

The people I have condemned in this article have been stricken with vanity to a freakish proportion to which they cannot even think straight. For example, I want to buy an F-150 pick-up. My girlfriend thinks it is a great idea for us to own a truck, until she sees me loading our old refrigerator onto the truck bed. She is worried that the refrigerator might scratch up the truck bed, and she would be so embarrassed if any of her cool friends were to see her being driven around town in a truck with a scratched truck bed.

But I’m looking at her like, what did you think the point was of me buying a truck in the first place? So that I am able to move the refrigerator by putting it to stand up in the truck bed, because it will leak refrigerant and stop working if I put it to lie down for even a second. She is missing the point if she is worried about the stupid truck. The truck is meant to transport large household appliances, so we can save money by DIY moving to another apartment without having to call professional movers.

I am not worried about the truck, so long as there aren’t any mechanical failures under the hood. That’s what really counts. Heck, I’ll even buy an old beat up truck from 1995 if she is going to be worried about wear and tear. Do you see my point of this scenario? Boys have toys, and men have resources. I only purchase items for their practical uses, and only when it is absolutely obvious that I won’t be able to do without them. Lucky for me, this scenario was entirely fictional. This is why I am single, folks. So as you can see, it is actually vanity, and not wealth that is the root of greed. And vanity is rooted in insecurity, not hunger. I am hungry!

Finally, a lot of people are harboring feelings of guilt about becoming wealthy. They believe that wealth makes them greedy, and selfish, but nothing could be further from the truth. They have accepted a cruel and wicked lie that was designed for the sole purpose of keeping them stagnated in life. The very bible that religious zealots often misuse to push the false narrative that money is the root of all evil, also said that one should be fruitful and multiply.

The bible also said, “ask, and it shall be given.” The purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness. Even if you say you don’t need money to be happy, I also cannot imagine you being happy living in abstract squalor. Vanity is a disease, but so is poverty. They are two sides of the same coin, because it creates a status quo of uneven wealth distribution within the wider society. I have never felt the need to box food out of another man’s mouth in order to feel superior. My ego is not threatened by the thought of wealth equality. I have always held the firm belief that all men can, and must eat a food. For me, the balance lies in minimalism. What is the balance for you?

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