Who is Happier: The Rich or The Poor?
The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)
So true; each party (class?) is equally foolish in believing the other is happier.
At least the poor can be excused for believing that the rich are happier because they watch the rich displaying their wealth like owning several big houses (mansions?), private jets, luxury cars, hiring the most expensive lawyers when they get on the wrong side of the law etc. etc. Since poor can’t even dream of such luxuries, it leads them to wrongly believe that the rich must be really happy.
The reasons as to why the rich think that poor are happier are not so obvious. May be the rich think that the poor don’t have to worry about such important matters as to ‘how I am going to make my next million dollars today!’ Or may be it’s a classic case of “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.” :-)
Being happier is not dependent on how rich or poor you are; rather it’s dependent on whether you view life as a comedy, a tragedy or something in between. Moreover, whether rich or poor, the humans are not designed to be perpetually happy. So expecting that somehow we can attain perpetual happiness is like expecting to catch hold of the rainbow; not going to happen.
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