striving to be a fairly diplomatic couple, brendan and i have a system of renting movies from classic video. we always get the 3 for 5 deal, which means we each get one pick, and for the third we get a documentary. we've gotten some pretty good ones in the past. last night we watched one called lucky about the lottery and how it changes peoples lives for better and worse.
recently i watched a TED talk about money. it was called "how to buy happiness". the title bugged me but i was intrigued to see where he was going with a title like that. if he was going to present something i agreed with or disagree with. the man ended up concluded that the way to buy happiness is to give money away. it's not how much we spend, but what we spend it on. buying things won't make us happy, but helping others in need will. i've found this to be true in my own life.
this was quite apparent in last night's documentary. some folks stayed pretty down to earth, some headed in a new direction, and one couple who seemed really normal at first went really over the top at the end (mind you, they were also the winners of the largest amount, so it's not that surprising). another person ended up completely broke. this one man, who was a vietnamese immigrant to the states, built homes for his children and his wife and him in their own little cul-de-sac, and built this massive apartment complex in vietnam for his relatives there (70-80 people). it was amazing to see how he helped make other people's lives better. this other man, who's marriage fell apart after he won the lottery (his wife was no longer financially dependant on him so she took off), eventually got remarried and said that his new wife was his true lottery prize. he was a mathematician and spent his time tutoring kids in math. it was really neat.
while brendan and i would never play the lottery, it got me thinking about my life if i didn't need to work. it seemed that many folks struggled with loss of identity without work or they struggled to relate to their working friends. they felt there money was less enjoyable since they hadn't earned it. i thought of my work, and the sense of accomplishment i get from it. how the reward of a promotion can't be bought.
i'm pretty happy with where i'm at. and hope to continue making the most of the money i have by giving to others.
recently i watched a TED talk about money. it was called "how to buy happiness". the title bugged me but i was intrigued to see where he was going with a title like that. if he was going to present something i agreed with or disagree with. the man ended up concluded that the way to buy happiness is to give money away. it's not how much we spend, but what we spend it on. buying things won't make us happy, but helping others in need will. i've found this to be true in my own life.
this was quite apparent in last night's documentary. some folks stayed pretty down to earth, some headed in a new direction, and one couple who seemed really normal at first went really over the top at the end (mind you, they were also the winners of the largest amount, so it's not that surprising). another person ended up completely broke. this one man, who was a vietnamese immigrant to the states, built homes for his children and his wife and him in their own little cul-de-sac, and built this massive apartment complex in vietnam for his relatives there (70-80 people). it was amazing to see how he helped make other people's lives better. this other man, who's marriage fell apart after he won the lottery (his wife was no longer financially dependant on him so she took off), eventually got remarried and said that his new wife was his true lottery prize. he was a mathematician and spent his time tutoring kids in math. it was really neat.
while brendan and i would never play the lottery, it got me thinking about my life if i didn't need to work. it seemed that many folks struggled with loss of identity without work or they struggled to relate to their working friends. they felt there money was less enjoyable since they hadn't earned it. i thought of my work, and the sense of accomplishment i get from it. how the reward of a promotion can't be bought.
i'm pretty happy with where i'm at. and hope to continue making the most of the money i have by giving to others.
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