Finding happiness is like digging for gold; it can be hard to find and take a long time, but sometimes you strike it big. Happiness is a deity and an enigma. You can get x and y with happiness, but you can also just get x or just get y. In my experience, finding the right balance of things in life that bring you happiness can be tricky, and it can also be confusing. These days I feel that most Americans associate happiness with wealth and power, but I personally have found that those things often make happiness more fleeting. I have visited developing nations where people live in poverty with very little to eat and they’ve been some of the happiest folks I’ve ever come across. On the other hand, I’ve had dinners in stunning castles and palaces, with some of the wealthiest people, and they don’t seem happy at all. I can’t exactly pinpoint why that may be, but I have some theories.
Now I don’t want to generalize here, but I’ve noticed some themes throughout my years. To me, it seems like those who are poor in wealth are extremely rich in their connections to their family. They may not have the shirt off their backs to give, but they certainly have love to share. Those who have money, however, seem to be less close to their families for some reason. People with less money seem to show their feelings more, while the wealthy tend to camouflage them more. I think that the common ground between the rich and the poor is that they are both struggling in their own ways, and that is something that we should all realize and acknowledge. Even though everyone has different problems, we all struggle to find happiness throughout our lives. Maybe just reminding ourselves of our similarities rather than our differences could help the whole world be a little happier.