Money doesn’t make Happiness

You surely already heard or read this saying — money doesn’t make happiness; you don’t need it to be happy.

When I thought about it, this saying appeared to me as a paradox: why everybody advocates this value meanwhile these very same persons try to earn as much money as possible to have a comfortable and “happy” life?

I’m young — a 17 years old boy from Paris, and I probably don’t have the living experience of many people. But today, I want to tell you a story that changed my perception of this saying.

I was raised by my father to always enjoy simplest things in life, and that includes fishing. We use to go to Bonifacio, an old town located in Corsica (French island in the Mediterranean Sea). Throughout the years, this small port has become a very trendy place, where millionaires of all over the world gather to enjoy the beauty of this place in their 145 feet-long yachts.

When I was younger, we once went fishing in this port — catching sea breams next to theses yachts is actually pretty enjoying! We were very simple dressed, using the breadcrumbs of the lunch as baits. While we were fishing, we saw a middle-aged man starring at us from his (I must admit) beautiful yacht; he finally came down, and we began to talk.

During this gentle conversation, he said something that I would probably never forget:

I’d love to have a simple life as yours

This (apparently) wealthy man envied our fishing rods! At this moment, I didn’t understand: from a 10 years-old boy, having such a big boat is definitely a big achievement in life and a sign of happiness. But when my father retold me this story years after, it made me think.

Life isn’t just about earning money, buying and buying always bigger houses of belongings. If you have money, I can’t possibly blame you for working hard and achieve what it is probably one of your goals. But keep in mind the saying, because even the wealthier man on earth aren’t necessarily happy.

That’s at least what I understood of this story, from my 17 years-old point of view. And from this story, I made a promise to myself: if I have money one day, I will spend it travelling or giving it to the poorest.