Our lives are what we make of it. It is the kind of choices we make. There will be minor decisions like what to eat for breakfast to big decisions such as whether or not to accept your boyfriend’s marriage proposal. How about some people who claim they did not or refuse to make a choice? Let’s say the situation is thus: Sam is going out for lunch with his parents and his wife. His parents are traditional folks and prefer eating traditionally made Chinese meals. His wife is a modern woman who loves Western meals. Sam is trapped in the middle. He is a filial child who always follows what his parent says; on the other hand, he is a dotting husband, giving his wife everything she can ever wish for. How should he decide what to do? Sam sought out a hotel that offers a buffet spread consisting of traditional Chinese food and also Western food.
Was that refusing to make a choice? No. That was Sam making a choice to accommodate both his parents and his wife. You see, refusing to make a choice is also a choice. No matter what, our lives is the choice we make. I see a man, working as a mechanic, trying to provide 2 meals for his family of 5. He whistles and put a smile on his face when going to work. Then I see another man, driving a car, wearing a suit and tie, in the middle of a traffic jam. He swears and is never courteous on the road, but he owns the car he drives, an apartment and he has a girlfriend. The first man is suffering financially and the second man has almost everything he can ask for. But comparatively, why is the poorer man happier? Because he is easily satisfied? Maybe. Or maybe he chooses to be happy with what he has. No doubt his life must be tough, but who says that having money will make you happy? I asked the poorer man, are you happy? And he says “our (he and his family) lives may be difficult, but we are happy. We may not have what other’s call a normal live because me and my wife go out to work the whole day and my eldest child, 10 years old, have to cook and take care of the younger 2 but we are happy”.
Happiness is and can be a choice. The society tells us we need this we need that to be happy. Because it is their job! If a business man cannot get people to buy his goods, he is a bad business man. If a marketer or an advertiser cannot get you to buy the product they are trying to sell, they are not good at their job! But does this mean that we have to have what these people are telling us to have? These are just tools to help make your live easier. But you can do without it! Happiness is not rated by how easy your life is, it is not rated by how much things you own or can own. Happiness is a simple thing, to just enjoy life as it comes by, regardless of anything that life hurls in your way, regardless of the hurdles you have to cross. Happiness is, ultimately, a choice.
I once received an e-mail. It was about an old man who is going to an old folk’s home. A young cross chap was showing the old man to his room. The chap said: “you better not hope too much from this room” and the old man smiled back and replied: “ah, I like my room”. The chap was puzzled: “you’ve seen the room?” Then the old smiled even wider and said: “every morning, I wake up and I make a decision. And it is to be happy. No matter what happens, I will be happy. It is a choice I make every morning. No one can take this away from me.”
So, what are you waiting for? Be happy today. =)
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