21 October, 2016

is money everything?





     During the   summer   I was vacationing in   Egypt   to meet my extended family. I spent two       months with my uncles, my aunts, my grandmother and my cousins. Since we all live far away from each other, our different environments shaped our perception of thought differently so I had to experience how their opinions were very different compared to  mine. I spent most of my time questioning and getting to know each    family member to understand what type of person they are so it was a norm to indulge in such deep and opinionated topics, we used to always talk and communicate       about various things. 

     We had this thing for staying outside late at night. Whether it be a late night dinner, a late night walk, a late night picnic in the park or a late night stroll at the beach, late summer nights in Egypt were magical and the weather wasn't too    bad either. So one night, weeks before I was going to head back to Bahrain, I was sitting with my uncle and we discussed about the future. I was in charge of the    conversation, asking lots of questions that had something to do with his past and the future. He spoke about his   wildest dreams when he was a kid, on how he wanted to be a police officer when he was 12 years old or how many circumstances in life lead him to where he is today before he dropped the question.

    "What do you want to do when      you are done with university?" He asked.
And I was very money-oriented   back then, materialistic    in a way too. Money was my main concern and I      measured success by how   much     money I had. I was foolish and so I told him, "Anything that gives me money."

     He shook his head, holding a small laugh as if he's remembering something he did mischievously but I did not know what it was   until  he advised me. "Money is not everything. As much as you hear this, you will realize it, young man." 

     I was in disagreement even before he explained, I was already in complete denial and I was ready to be       defensive     before he linked my thinking with his thinking back when he was my age, "I always wanted to have lots of money just like you. My goal is getting so much money to provide. Everyone emphasized how if you get good grades you will eventually work with great income but as you grow up you will find out that money is never the solution - it is an intermediary. Money helps you get everything, but isn't everything. And if you are never content with what you have, you will never be content with anything. 
     Even if you were the richest of the richest, you'll never be happy and this will get to you. It will depress you, it will be the  main   cause of your  distress and you'll forget about the life you have. It will get you to be toxic, do you want to be poisonous to yourself and other people?"

     And that's that. I was shocked, I have always been in the position to give advice and wisdom and never knew what it felt like to get such a mind-blowing guidance that felt ethereally enlightening.
     It was amazing, I felt like time froze and I just was in an utter surrealist state of concentrated contemplation. He was right

     It might not  be a good enough justification for anybody but it is great enough to change my mind. It changed my perception of things. I'm now goal-oriented because of this, thanks for my uncle's advice no amount of money could make me happier than the feeling of self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment. 


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4 comments:

  1. I really love how your work is so relatable to all of us going through the exact same things right now. "Anything that gives me money"-Guilty of saying the exact same thing too.

    And as usual your work is always a doorway into a new perspective of thinking.

    Thank you Amro.❤

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  2. JK , an inspiring blog as always , keep it up!

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  3. Such a great article! Yeah, sometimes it can be really difficult to explain what are you really thinking about...
    Cheers, Eliza | www.fashion-confession.com

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  4. So many truths! Thanks for being so open!

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