A friend of mine will be celebrating his birthday in a week. Three of my high school classmates will be celebrating their ten days after that and three weeks from now, it will be Christmas. With too many occasions coming up, I don’t know what I’m supposed to give as gifts.
I looked at a display of games and gift cards at a department store and thought maybe they’d understand if I’d ever bought them off-the-shelf games and gift cards instead of personally curated gifts. I looked at my wallet, there wasn’t much left. Sometimes, with the price of gift sets and cards today, I’d like to curse occasions like Christmas and birthdays, especially when they’re not mine. I know it’s not mandatory to give, but it’s always been a tradition to do so during events like this.
I looked at the gift set and card display again and decided to only buy cards this time. Walking past different stalls selling the same products, I kept telling myself that one day I will be able to buy all the gift sets and cards I want and in turn make many of my friends and family happy. While doing so, I complained about the fact that I am relatively poor. All of us probably have more or less the same feelings from time to time. Maybe that’s why I hate going to malls or walking next to stores, especially when my pocket is already half empty. I also hate that whenever I buy things I always tend to mentally count how much money is left and if it will last another month or so.
My friends sometimes idolize me for being so thrifty, but what they don’t know is that whenever I see items on sale I always fight the urge to buy some and always end up saying to myself, “I don’t need it.” I will not buy it”.
My ultimate goal in this life is to get rich, a dream so common that you no longer want to ask a person if they ever want to get rich or not. You would know that the answer almost 90% of the time would be a “Yes”. It is not a bad dream to wish for wealth to have all the things you need and want to make yourself and the people you love happy. Most of the time we think that in the end money would solve everything. Sometimes it does and sometimes it just makes the situation worse. They say that people should be content with what they have to be happy, if it were that easy.
Today, we cannot deny the fact that money has indeed become a valuable necessity. But if you think that money can solve almost anything, I’ll leave you with a quote from a notebook I once bought: “When all the plants and animals die, when all the seas and rivers dry up, and when the rain no longer falls from the heaven, only then will man realize that he cannot eat his money.” So every time I look at those gift sets and cards, I’m reminded of that quote and start to feel happier, even if I know I can’t afford those things yet.
