My Game Plan for LifeMy name is Hai H. Lam, I love philosophy because I believe it will ultimately liberate us from the lies designed to oppress and keep us from being happy. I decided to write this game plan for life in hope of finding some greater truth or better yet—a solution to the problem of unhappiness.
First of all, work sucks! The reason why it sucks is because the goal of it is to make who you work for more wealthy. Given the fact that you can also become richer in the process of making someone wealthier, you are still not happy. That is, unless you are making an obscured salary doing so. Yes, I am talking about those bio-chemists out there! This explains why most of the people out there are studying for 10 years in hopes of making that 250k salary! For me, 10 years is too long.
I want my 250k salary NOW! I know, I know, just by demanding it won’t get you what you want. But since I’m acting childish right now, mind as well “Go for Gold!”…I demand a 250k salary, not having to work my ass off, and having 1000 hours of free time to spend as I desire. This, ladies and gentlemen is the true key to happiness!—making an absurd amount of money, and having plenty of free time to enjoy it.
Well, this key is inefficient in the sense that you have to work to get what you want. What if, I can make a 250k salary and have fun while doing it! This way, everyday would be well spent. You wake up, eager to get to work because somehow—work defines you! My aunt such a person, she is the world’s greatest dry cleaner since ever. She pours her heart and soul into what she does. I recall the time when she drove 50 miles, snuck into a military base, begged a store clerk on base to sell her a glove that she needed to make her customer happy. That was the hardest $2.50 of her life, but some how she felt a sense of accomplishment and now wears it as a badge of honor.
My aunt is still quite unhappy however. She shops a lot, exercises a lot, and goes on vacation a lot too. Perhaps because she feels empty and somehow pretty clothes, a nice body, and exotic experiences fills that void. I similarly feel this way too or at least can see me feeling this way in the future. So if money is not the stuff of happiness, what is?
This brings me to my uncle on my mom’s side. To keep it simple, he is poor. To paint a clearer picture, he is beyond broke—he has no credit, is in debt, and will soon be evicted again. He has three boys, none of which are older than 12 years old. His wife does not work, and he is a freelance welder. His work is similar to the type you would find in rural Vietnam. By this I mean, his income is what he makes that day—no salary, no security or certainty. His family thinks I’m a saint because I gave them $400 dollars, when his father passed away. Believe me it’s much worse than that guy in that movie, “the Pursuit of Happiness”. If they made a movie about my uncle, it would be called “the Denial of Happiness” since he is illiterate and has a slight speech impediment. However, he is happy.
How can I be so sure he is happy? Well, he has a family—three of the most beautiful boys, I might add. He loves them from what I can tell, and he loves us too. He speaks and knows more about love than my aunt for sure. He does not understand what “true religion brand jeans” are, and haven’t been on a vacation since ever. But he is happy. I can tell that he gets sad sometimes, especially when my dad calls him a good for nothing fuck up, and a great inconvenience. But he is happy.
My oldest sister was basically that bitch in “legally blonde”, a young confused shopaholic that loves everything material—big houses, nice cars, and money more generally. HOWEVER! And this is a big “however”, recently, bless her heart, she had a child! His name is Joshua and he is a magician. When Joshua was born, he did the most impossible trick! He turned my sister into a selfless mother, who puts her own useless wants aside for the benefit of her son. She calls him, “my piece of shit, and my golden nugget”. She is now happy, from what I can tell.
Life isn’t about money, even though my dad thinks so. I believe that life is about community. If you make community like my sister and uncle, you got something to look forward too at the end of the day—even when life is hard. If you lost community, like my aunt—you’re going to make a lot of friends at Macy’s with those sales reps. If you are anything like me, you would make finding community your life—hopefully, then you will be happy.
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