Why the rich and famous are never happy
In any of our films, be it in Hindi or Tamil or Telugu, the hero will mostly be shown as a rich man, or as the head of a very rich family. The main villain will go all out to do some harm to our superb hero, who will find enough time to dance around the trees with his sweet heart, bash up all the bad boys and emerge successful at the end of the movie. The story will be a fairly simple one, and will mostly be a variation of one main story or the other.
So, money makes a huge difference in life. The rich and famous are always happy, we are told in so many movie tales.
Really? The gap between what is shown in the movies and what is the stark reality is really so huge. It is a big mystery why so many story tellers talk only about money.
It is a fact of life that the rich and famous are not happy at all. They are very unhappy, as can be seen from the real lives of most of our heroes and heroines. They get married amongst themselves, and except for some rare examples, get divorced within a few years. They live miserable lives and are bad examples of what cannot be achieved with mere money.
It is not that only the film heroes and heroines are unhappy. Those who are rich and famous -- the most famous rich businessmen, the exporters, our politicians and so on, are also not happy.
Why is this so? What really happens? Let us examine some answers.
The craze for money and the rat race
The rich and famous are never satisfied without some fixed amount of money. Their capital amount is only an investment to make huge amounts of money, running into hundreds of thousands of rupees, even per month.
Naturally, no one can be so honest in life, and there are several unethical ways in which they make money.
This rat race is something that the rich and famous are used to, but comes at a huge price. They have serious ailments that go along with irregular food habits, huge amounts of international travel and so on. So, what happens as a result of efforts to make huge amounts of money, is not so pleasant at all. The family starts falling apart, as children get used to money, and start looking at the world, through of lens of money alone -- nothing more, nothing less.
They would not give enough for charity
Two outstanding examples of excellently successful men -- Snri Narayamurthy of Infosys Technologies and Shri Azim Premji, of WIPRO, stand out as outstanding examples of the rich, who have made huge donations for charity, and for making a meaningful contribution to society. Their charitable organizations partner with Government organizations, and the money is properly channelized and spent.
However, these are two lone examples. The rich, for the most part, do not give even a small percentage -- mostly less than one percent -- for charity. The insecurity that comes with old age, haunts them, as the next generation starts fighting for the property, and what is seen in hundreds of rich families is very much the same. The fight for resources is so huge, and the net result is that the society gets virtually nothing out of the rich and famous.
However, the very same wealth, does not lead to happiness. This is because there is always a limitation to what can be really purchased with money.
The then owner of the Nutrine range of chocolates (since sold to a multinational company) had written a superb sentence in one of his books "even if you have six houses, you can sleep in only one of them".
Exactly. The cost of maintenance, the need to have a huge range of servants to take care of the houses and so on, will have a huge effect on the mental health of the rich.
Inability to understand real happiness
Mahatma Gandhi and others of his ilk had demonstrated that real happiness comes with making others happy. Kamaraj, the most outstanding leader of Tamil Nadu, till date, was so honest that when he died, his balance showed an amount a little more than one rupee!!
He was the most innovative leader, and it was he who introduced the mid day meal scheme for school children. This is considered the model for many States in India.
Happiness is a state of mind. It comes with very small things. Appreciating the beauty of nature, playing with very small children, listening to their innocent voices, understanding the suffering of the poor and developing some empathy for them are some ways in which one can really be happy.
All this is very unfortunately never understood by the rich. The balance between the commercial and spiritual life, very obviously needed for a happy life, is never understood by the rich.
First of all, their lack of empathy for others and their suffering, creates a wall and a big myth. Their own world shrinks when they start feeling very unhappy with some calamity in their family -- like a major accident, a prolonged sickness of a family member and so on. Secondly, their "yes men" and close friends often lead them to the path of ruin, as they divert their attention for their own selfish purposes. Thirdly, happiness, as it is understood by the rich, only means giving costly presents to their own family members to others, particularly close friends.
However, this is a total myth. These presents are total transitional in nature. Above some level, they become meaningless, as it has often been demonstrated by a huge number of real world examples.
Thus, the rich and the famous are caught in their own circle of make believe, their own world of happiness. But such a circle cracks with a monotonous regularity, and they start wondering what makes the much poorer people happy.
Their quest for happiness never ends -- it is a journey without any destination.
However, they all need to understand the limitations of money, develop friendships and relationships and do some good to others. They will experience happiness only if they share their wealth with those who do not have it, and need it so badly. If they start doing it, they can see a world of difference.
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