đź’¸ Si FUERA MILLONARIO đź’¸
Hace poco tuve que escribir sobre mi experiencia y problemas financieros, sobre la labor del dĂa a dĂa para llegar a fin de mes con lo justo y necesario para sobrevivir, y no pude evitar que viejas heridas ya cicatrizadas fueran reabiertas en un nuevo contexto. Escribir me llevĂł a reflexionar profundamente no solo por el valor de las cosas, sino por el valor humano tras el dinero. Porque sin dudas es muy hermosa esa frase de que el dinero no importa, pero todos sabemos la mentira que se esconde detrás. Por supuesto que el dinero no importa para ser felices, por supuesto que se puede ser feliz sin ser la persona más rica sobre la faz de este azul planeta. Hay muchas personas que viven con lo poco, lo básico, y me atreverĂa a asegurar que son felices.
Lo que sĂ es cierto es que el dinero no compra la felicidad embotellada o empaquetada, pero sĂ aligera la carga y el camino a la felicidad, facilitándonos de todos los recursos que puede comprar. Se puede ser más fácilmente feliz o trabajar para ser más feliz cuando tienes un techo sobre tu cabeza que te cobija del frĂo, un plato de comida caliente que te calma el hambre, el agua necesaria para que se quite la sed y el cansancio. Otros aspectos, como acceder a estudiar o a la cultura, deportes y recreaciĂłn, tambiĂ©n son muy importantes en el ansiado camino a ser felices, que no deja de ser, por supuesto, un camino Ăşnico y personal para cada persona, porque en esta vida no hay dos conceptos de felicidad iguales.
Pero ÂżquĂ© pasarĂa si el dinero no fuera un problema, si para mĂ no existieran los problemas financieros que me atan a horas de trabajo, a quitarme deseos con dosis frĂas de realidad canalizadas en carencias? Sin dudas, si fuera millonario y el dinero no fuera un problema, la primera sensaciĂłn serĂa de euforia. ÂżQuiĂ©n no? ÂżQuiĂ©n no se alegrarĂa de eso? No más preocupaciones, no más exigencias de un jefe, no más pagos apurados, deudas, limitaciones, porque tendrĂa la capacidad de decidir quĂ© quiero y quĂ© no, quĂ© me hace feliz hacer a cada momento y quĂ© no. QuĂ© comer hoy y mañana no serĂa un problema, menos quĂ© ropa vestir. PodrĂa dejar atrás obligaciones para dedicarle el tiempo a mis verdaderos intereses, eso que los años suprimieron de mis dĂas y mi cotidianidad.
Por supuesto que, seguido de la alegrĂa, llegarĂa la necesidad de compartir. Compartir este medio para la felicidad con toda la gente que me rodea, mi familia, mis amigos. TratarĂa de cumplir sus mayores deseos, de pagarles la educaciĂłn completa a sus hijos o esas vacaciones de boda en la playa que nunca llegaron porque habĂa que ponerse a trabajar para comprar una casa para la futura familia que llegarĂa.
DespuĂ©s quizás me dedicarĂa a ese gran placer que es viajar. ViajarĂa por el mundo conociendo todo lo que hasta el momento solo habĂa visto en libros o televisiĂłn: pirámides, desiertos, el ocĂ©ano azul infinito, las montañas de cima nevada, ParĂs y Nueva York. Cada lugar del mundo me mostrarĂa lo mejor que tiene para dar, porque el dinero no oculta las mejores experiencias en los lugares, al contrario, pone los medios y su uso es quien decide hasta dĂłnde. La gastronomĂa de estos lugares serĂa algo que no podrĂa faltar.
Pero sin duda la mayor felicidad vendrĂa del poder del cambio. Cambiarle la vida a cualquiera puede ser muy fácil si tienes el dinero para hacerlo. Con un simple gesto puedes hacer que alguien acceda a esa medicina costosa, a esas clases en la universidad de mayor prestigio. PodrĂa impulsar la carrera de talentos que de otro modo no pudieran mostrar sus habilidades: mĂşsicos, poetas y escritores que cargan con tener que renunciar a sus sueños. Yo los alentarĂa con lo necesario para que los pudieran seguir.
Sin dudas serĂa difĂcil mantener los pies en la tierra con tanto dinero, con tantas infinitas posibilidades. Quizás mis valores serĂan puestos a prueba de fuego, brazas a cada segundo, y pudiera caer en crueles vanidades deshonestas o fuera un traidor de lo que hoy creo con fieles convicciones. Pero ese sin dudas serĂa el mayor reto, y aun asĂ es un reto que todos, tengamos o no dinero, seamos o no millonarios, nos enfrentamos a cada dĂa. Por eso dirĂa que quizás ser millonario serĂa la sentencia a no vivir para uno mismo, porque llega con la responsabilidad de no tener la conciencia tranquila sabiendo de personas que apenas llegan a lo necesario para el dĂa a dĂa.
TendrĂa un poco de recelo con las personas que se me acercaran desde ese momento, y quizás esta sea otra de las peores maldiciones. SerĂa muy difĂcil saber escoger entre quien viene en busca de mi sincera amistad y quien viene por el imán que genera el dinero y los intereses. Y si bien el dinero proporciona esa comodidad, para la verdadera felicidad donde más feliz me siento es con mis amigos verdaderos, esos que estuvieron cuando no tenĂa más que ofrecerles que mi sinceridad y mi amistad, sin compromisos más allá de las risas y anĂ©cdotas compartidas en las noches de juegos. Esa conexiĂłn imborrable y limpia es MI FELICIDAD.
đź’¸ If I WERE A MILLIONAIRE đź’¸
I recently had to write about my financial experience and problems, about the day-to-day labor of making ends meet with just enough to survive, and I couldn't help but have old, already healed wounds reopened in a new context. Writing led me to reflect deeply not only on the value of things, but also on the human value behind money. Because it is undoubtedly very beautiful that phrase that money does not matter, but we all know the lie that hides behind it. Of course money does not matter to be happy, of course you can be happy without being the richest person on the face of this blue planet. There are many people who live with the little, the basics, and I would dare to say that they are happy.
What is true is that money does not buy bottled or packaged happiness, but it does lighten the load and the path to happiness, providing us with all the resources it can buy. You can more easily be happy or work to be happier when you have a roof over your head to shelter you from the cold, a hot plate of food to quench your hunger, and the water you need to quench your thirst and fatigue. Other aspects, such as access to study or culture, sports and recreation, are also very important in the longed-for path to happiness, which is, of course, a unique and personal path for each person, because in this life no two concepts of happiness are the same.
But what would happen if money were not a problem, if for me there were no financial problems that tie me to hours of work, to take away my desires with cold doses of reality channeled into deficiencies? Undoubtedly, if I were a millionaire and money were not a problem, the first feeling would be one of euphoria. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't be happy about that? No more worries, no more demands from a boss, no more hurried payments, debts, limitations, because I would have the ability to decide what I want and what I don't want, what makes me happy to do at every moment and what not. What to eat today and tomorrow would not be a problem, let alone what to wear. I could leave behind obligations to dedicate my time to my true interests, that which the years suppressed from my days and my daily life.
Of course, followed by joy, would come the need to share. To share this means to happiness with all the people around me, my family, my friends. I would try to fulfill their greatest desires, to pay for their children's full education or that wedding vacation on the beach that never came because you had to get to work to buy a house for the future family that would arrive.
Then maybe I would dedicate myself to that great pleasure that is traveling. I would travel the world, seeing everything I had so far only seen in books or on television: pyramids, deserts, the endless blue ocean, snow-capped mountains, Paris and New York. Every place in the world would show me the best it has to give, because money does not hide the best experiences in places, on the contrary, it puts the means and its use is who decides how far. The gastronomy of these places would be something that could not be missing.
But undoubtedly the greatest happiness would come from the power of change. Changing anyone's life can be very easy if you have the money to do it. With a simple gesture you can get someone access to that expensive medicine, to those classes at the most prestigious university. It could boost the careers of talents who might not otherwise be able to showcase their skills: musicians, poets and writers who are burdened with having to give up their dreams. I would encourage them with what it takes to follow them.
No doubt it would be difficult to keep my feet on the ground with so much money, with so many infinite possibilities. Perhaps my values would be put to the test of fire, fathoms at every second, and I could fall into cruel dishonest vanities or be a traitor of what I believe today with faithful convictions. But that would undoubtedly be the biggest challenge, and yet it is a challenge that we all, whether we have money or not, whether we are millionaires or not, face every day. That is why I would say that perhaps being a millionaire would be the sentence to not live for oneself, because it comes with the responsibility of not having a clear conscience knowing of people who barely make ends meet.
I would be a little suspicious of the people who approached me from that moment on, and perhaps this is another of the worst curses. It would be very difficult to know how to choose between those who come in search of my sincere friendship and those who come because of the magnet generated by money and interests. And while money provides that comfort, for true happiness where I feel happiest is with my true friends, those who were there when I had nothing more to offer them than my sincerity and my friendship, with no commitments beyond the laughter and anecdotes shared on game nights. That indelible and clean connection is MY HAPPINESS.