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Money Will Not Bring True HappYness

I watched the Pursuit of Happyness movie (with Wil Smith) the other night and I absolutely loved this inspiring story. It is a story of determination, lessons learned, dreams and dedication. This movie was based on the true story of Chris Gardner. The movie was recently released on to video so I decided to rent it. Here is the description on the back of the video.

Will Smith stars in the inspirational true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman who’s struggling to make ends meet. ….. Chris is left raise their 5-year old son Christopher on his own. Chris’ determination finally pays off when he lads an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in twenty interns will make the cut. But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters….

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Much of the story was actually very close to home for me. Chris Gardner was a lot like my own father. Though we never had to sleep on the streets we did have times being homeless. My father was just as driven and dedicated to his children as the character in the story. He didn’t have a relationship with his father until he was an adult but always wanted to be close to his children. The main difference in Chris Gardner and my own father is that Chris achieved his goals. My father never achieved that which he wanted so desperately, which was having monetary wealth. He died with only a few dollars to his name.
My father was an entrepreneur, inventor and artist. He was extremely intelligent but he had his priorities all out of order. His dream of being wealthy got in the way of the relationships he could have had with his children and grandchildren. Though he said he was doing it for his family what he didn’t understand was that we didn’t want his money, we wanted him.

The reason I am writing this article is because I want those of you fathers (and mothers) reading this to understand that money will not bring you true happiness. Though I love the story of Chris Gardner, the movie Pursuit of HappYness seemed to have and underlining message that happiness comes from having money. I am not sure that was the message that was trying to come across but parts of it seemed to suggest so.

Many entrepreneurial types, including myself at times, get caught up in the determination of making money. Even if our goal is to give our families a better life our priorities can still get out of order. Our lives should be dedicated to our God and our families not to making money. If you are not happy in the slums you will not be happy in the riches. What? A better word I suppose would be to have joy. Joy is deeper than happiness. Joy is what you understand not just what you feel. You can have joy (in Christ) in the lowest places in your life.

Money is of course a big part of everyone’s life. Money is what buys us the things we need like food and shelter. But money is just an object that comes and goes. You can’t take money with you when you die so we should want to be remembered for our character, not for the amount of money we had or didn’t have. My father didn’t understand that the happiness he was seeking could have been his if he had just realized it had nothing to do with money. My hope is that if you are in that place of desperately trying to gain happiness by making more money then you will realize that happiness (through God) has already been given to you but it’s up to you to recognize it.

April 16, 2007 | Filed Under Just Whatever 

2 Responses to “Money Will Not Bring True HappYness”

  1. Time To Budget » Blog Archive » Is Wealth Wrong? on May 8th, 2007

    [...] So as I don’t believe wealth is wrong, I also don’t seek wealth for happiness. As I have said in another post “Money Will Not Bring True HappYness“. Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurner [...]

  2. Laughing at Self Help on May 30th, 2007

    Excellent post.

    Money cannot make us whole because we are already whole. Somewhere along the way (usually right off the bat) we are taught to believe that success or happiness is everywhere but where we are.

    Ironically, the more we can recognize that we are whole right now, the more we acquire, spiritually and materially.

    Great post. Thanks for the reminder.

    Oh yeah, in the very last scene of “Pursuit of Happyness”, Will Smith walks right past and looks back at the real Chris Gardner dressed in a suit.

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