Happiness and slavery: A story about a lady in my life.

In replying to a comment here in my blog, I was inspired to share this story about someone I know. 

I know I have not been very good when it comes to giving protagonists in my stories a name. 

It is either no name or just a letter from the alphabet.

OK, for this blog post, let's see. 

What about "Posh"? 

I don't think I know anyone who has that name and it seems appropriate for the story I am going to tell.

Right, "Posh" it is.





I knew Posh for maybe a year or two but we have not been in touch for a while now. 

I remember she told me before that friends who don't bother to keep in touch will become strangers to her after a while. 

So, I could be in her list of "strangers to be" by now.

Anyway, Posh had a good career and made very good money. 







She knew how to have the good life too or so she said. A meal at a posh Japanese restaurant could cost $500 for two and she wouldn't bat an eyelid. 

An overseas holiday must be to countries where she could shop for branded goods at the same time. 

So, spending $20,000 on a 2 weeks trip to Italy? That was not extravagant to her.

So, it is not hard to imagine that for a person like AK who thinks that posh Japanese restaurants are the likes of Ichiban Boshi (and I recently paid $140 for dinner with 4 friends at one of their outlets) and that overseas holidays are meaningful if they are spent appreciating nature, trying street food, visiting cultural sites and museums, to feel very differently.

Posh eagerly anticipated social events, especially those which would allow her to rub shoulders with members of the high society. 

I was told that she built her contacts and made quite a bit of money because of the rich people she got to know. 

I actually appreciate that but not everyone is good at that. I felt like a fish out of water.

I still remember one incident when a wealthy gentleman told me, "If you help me to do this, I will let you drive my Jaguar." 

I wanted to ask, "Why would I want to drive your Jaguar?" 

Something stopped me and I managed a smile. 

The very rich are just different, maybe.





Whenever Posh closed a deal, she would go shopping and she would be happy. It could be LV, Gucci, Prada, Aigner or Salvatore. 

For the record, it took me a while to remember these names and if many of my grey cells died in the process, I wouldn't be surprised.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know what retail therapy is about. 

However, for AK, if he needs retail therapy, he goes to a supermarket. 

I could end up buying some atas grocery. I might buy strawberries instead of apples, for example. 

Actually, yesterday, I bought some dried figs which cost about $7.00 for 200 grams. Atas!

What led to the ice age in my friendship with Posh was when I told her that she was a slave. 

She was offended. 

The more I talked, the more offended she was.

Posh made good money, like I said. She was happy when she spent money on expensive goods and services. 

Was there a problem? 

The problem, to me, was that the happiness was bought with money and that it was temporal. 





Could there come a day when she ran out of money and she couldn't buy happiness anymore?

Running out of money? 

Posh couldn't imagine that. 

I felt that it was more likely that she could not accept that. 

Posh was no bimbo. 

She was very intelligent. 

She knew.





We might understand something but for reasons only known to us, we might or might not accept it.

Specifically, I told Posh she was a slave to materialism. 

She said slaves were unhappy people but she was happy. It was wrong to call her a slave. It was a matter of perspective. 

I couldn't disagree with that.





So, I said she was a happy slave and that I was sure there were many other happy slaves like her in the world.

Rather abruptly, Posh left the conversation.

Alamak, I forgot to mention how much money she regularly spent on atas cosmetics and facial sessions too. 

Oh, never mind.




Related posts:
1. Wage slaves should be fearful.
2. Buy a $500,000 watch.
3. How to retire comfortably?

Greater financial well-being is not beyond most of us.

I know that some people are very critical of me. 

Some have also been verbally abusive. 

I used to confront them (online) but, these days, I don't bother.

These critics say that I try too hard to save money and that the savings couldn't possibly amount to anything significant. 

I must admit that they could be right. 

What did AK just say? 

Well, I am just being rational.

To the very rich, $5,000 a year might indeed be a drop in the ocean and I do know that there are some very rich people reading my blog. 

They are millionaires and many have income of $50,000 or more a month. 

Yes, not in a year but in a month.

我的天阿!

Well, most of us are not like that but it does not mean that financial well-being is beyond our reach.

Take an hour or two to reflect on the way we are spending money and explore ways in which we could do things differently, if we have not done so before. 

We could surprise ourselves with how much money we could save if we just do two things:

1. Cutting down on wants. 

"Is it something we can do without?"


Example: 
I really want a home theatre system but I know I can do without it.

2. Simplify our needs. 

"Is there a less costly alternative?" 


Example: 
Meals at home or the kopitiam is just as good as meals at restaurants.

The Chinese people have a saying:

"万丈高楼从地起。"

It means that even the construction of very tall buildings will start from the ground up.

Greater financial well-being could be closer to most of us than we think.





Related posts:

Habit to becoming richer.

"Keep our needs simple and our wants few." AK