Oleh: Cahyadi Takariawan
Pada titik tertentu kehidupan manusia, semakin banyak harta dikumpulkan, justru bisa menghasilkan penderitaan. Paling tidak, ini yang dirasakan oleh seorang Warren Buffet (2016).
“There are things money can’t buy. I don’t think standard of living equates with cost of living beyond a certain point. Good housing, good health, good food, good transport”.
“There’s a point you start getting inverse correlation between wealth and quality of life. My life couldn’t be happier. In fact, it’d be worse if I had six or eight houses”.
Sebanyak apapun Anda mengejar kekayaan dan popularitas, di titik tertentu Anda merasa harus berhenti. Bahkan terengah-engah. Tak jarang menyesali mengapa harus mengejar dengan cara sekeras ini.
“So, I have everything I need to have, and I don’t need any more because it doesn’t make a difference after a point. When you get to 10 times or 100 times or 1,000 times, it doesn’t make a difference –in quality of life,” ujar Warren Buffet.
Banyak orang, saat miskin, terobsesi untuk bekerja keras mendapatkan sebanyak mungkin harta. Makin banyak harta yang ingin didapatkan, makin keras pula kerja yang harus dilakukan.
Namun setelah didapat, sering kali membuat orang berpikir ulang — bahwa harus bekerja sekeras itu, hanya untuk mendapatkan sesuatu yang ternyata ‘bukan jawaban’.
Mungkin kondisi seperti itu yang dirasakan oleh Bill Gates (2016), “Money is counterproductive-it prevents happiness to come”.
“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness. I come from a very poor family, where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years.
“More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now-all this luxury and consumerism-and start your real life.’ I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need. I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing,” ungkap Bill Gates.
Maka, puncak kebahagiaan justru bukan pada popularitas atau kekayaan itu sendiri. Kebahagiaan —seperti yang dirasakan Mark Zuckeberg— adalah dalam peduli dan berbagi kepada sesama.
Bahagia itu dalam saling mengasihi dengan orang–orang tercinta —keluarga dan teman-teman.
“To me, happiness is doing something meaningful that helps people and that I believe in with people I love. I think lots of people confuse happiness with fun. I don’t believe it is possible to have fun every day. But I do believe it is possible to do something meaningful that helps people every day”.
Pada akhirnya, menghargai kebersamaan adalah kunci kebahagiaan yang penting.
“As I’ve grown up, I’ve gained more appreciation for my close relationships — my wife, my partners at work, my close friends. Nobody builds something by themselves. Long term relationships are very important,” ungkap Mark Zuckeberg.***
Tags: kebahagiaan, orang, PKS, puncak
