University - this might be a really naive question

[kien]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I'm not rich. I won't ever be.

And of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with not being rich. Most of us are not rich, and many are even less rich than that!

One lesson my parents taught me is that you actually don't need that much money to live decently in this world. In 1979 my parents, with a 3 year old and 9 month old in tow, left their home country on a rickety boat with 200 other refugees. We lived in a refugee camp for 6 months before we were fortunate enough to be sponsored by a church in Calgary. We lived in that Church's hall for a while. My dad made money cleaning the church, my mom made sandwiches for 7-11. Fast forward 30 years, my parents are still doing the same thing they did 30 years ago. They have kept with those jobs because they actually enjoyed it. Probably because they appreciated the fact that it was worlds better than the alternative (misery) that they left behind. They were able to comfortably provide for their children, buy houses, cars, food, clothes and even helped put both kids through post secondary education.

Not that anyone really cares about all that.. but the moral of that story is, you don't need lots of money to be happy and successful.

I call this photo, "The Pursuit of Happiness"



This kid (and his family) started out with nothing more than the shirts on their backs, literally.

[Delphinus]

Sniff... sniff.. that's so beautiful man. I'M NOT CRYING I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY EYE!

Actually I think it's sawdust come to think of it. Stupid renos.

[lastlight]

Haha. What are you up to down there Tony?

Great story Kien.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by kien

And of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with not being rich. Most of us are not rich, and many are even less rich than that!

One lesson my parents taught me is that you actually don't need that much money to live decently in this world. In 1979 my parents, with a 3 year old and 9 month old in tow, left their home country on a rickety boat with 200 other refugees. We lived in a refugee camp for 6 months before we were fortunate enough to be sponsored by a church in Calgary. We lived in that Church's hall for a while. My dad made money cleaning the church, my mom made sandwiches for 7-11. Fast forward 30 years, my parents are still doing the same thing they did 30 years ago. They have kept with those jobs because they actually enjoyed it. Probably because they appreciated the fact that it was worlds better than the alternative (misery) that they left behind. They were able to comfortably provide for their children, buy houses, cars, food, clothes and even helped put both kids through post secondary education.

Not that anyone really cares about all that.. but the moral of that story is, you don't need lots of money to be happy and successful.

I call this photo, "The Pursuit of Happiness"



This kid (and his family) started out with nothing more than the shirts on their backs, literally.

Very nicely said and an amazing story.

My mom went through a very similar childhood with her parents, leaving her home country to come to Canada and struggle. They were not in a refugee camp though. I have learned a lot from her life.

My parents were only together until I was about 4, so I don't remember anything about them being together but they just grew apart and certainly went different directions in life. They are still friends to this day.

My mom ended up never going to school for anything but always found ways to get pretty cool jobs, stuff she loved. She teaches horseback riding now and does well. One of the happiest, easy going people you could ever meet. Just truly loves life.

My father on the other hand, went to school for god knows how long, has a crazy amount of degrees, makes more money as an executive of a huge bank in Asia than I would know what to do with and yet he broke down last time I saw him and told me how unhappy he was I think he would trade the millions in an instant to have what my mom has. He grew up in a very modest house, worked his way through school full time, struggled his way up the ladder in the banking world because he refused to sacrifice his morals and ethics (could have gotten to where he is now in half the time) but says his life has been consumed with being "successful" and being the best and making the most money and buying the nicest car, ect.

Money really doesn't make people happy...