Happiness

I don't know whether I am a creative person or not. I cannot think of a better title than this.

Okay. I am writing this because I was inspired by an event that I experienced just now. One of my university friends introduced me to a person who gave me a presentation about his multi-level marketing (MLM) company.

The main point that I got from it is that you can get much money from if you join the company. Hundreds of thousands dollars probably. I'm not quite sure, but certainly it is "a lot".

Then came two other friends of his who have also joined the company. Just say they are A (not Apatosaurus!) and B (not Brontosaurus of course!). A's motivation of doing that business is he wants to buy (an) expensive car(s), and, probably, other prestigious things. And, B's motivation is simple. He wants to make his parents happy by accompanying them traveling to the U.S.A.

This leads me to a question: Will I be happy only if I have a super car? Will I be happy only if I have an excursion with my parents in other countries? (Oops, sorry, two questions :p)

And my answer to both the questions is: No.

I am happy in front of my laptop right now. I am happy writing this article. I don't feel I lack anything. It doesn't matter to me to have only an ordinary car or to go with my parents to Bandung. Note: Bandung is the capital city of West Java. It is quite near to Jakarta.

Anyway, that's my answer. It's possible that you have a different answer than mine, and that's fine.

From my perspective, happiness is defined by you yourself. You cannot compare one's happiness to others' happiness. You cannot force someone to do something and say, "You will be happy after you do this."

I am infatuated by my dinosaur book collection, though you might put them in the corner of your room and abandon them, or burn them down because you think they only take up a lot of space in your room. You may love your K-Pop CDs and DVDs, while I will sell them and use the money to buy Jay Chou's concert CDs or DVDs (really, I haven't got them!). You might want to buy an original Lionel Messi jersey or watch a movie every weekend but I prefer to go on a trip to a city or go camping. I'd rather blog or browse on the Internet for one hour than spend an hour playing Left 4 Dead, DotA or Counter Strike. And many more...

Please notice that I am not saying that the business is deceitful. Maybe it works, maybe not. I don't know. But, for sure, happiness is something that you determine, not others. You measure it, not others. What do you think?