Don't give up when the world seems to be broken
I'm still hopin', with my heart open
For a brighter day...
-Michael Franti
We are charged today to be unreasonably happy people. Life in all its errant wisdom sees ever more fit to lob injustice upon injustice onto those least able to combat it. The conditions of the needy and the suffering compound, while the ranks of the corruptible swell with feckless abandon. And meanwhile, somewhere in the middle there, we grow.
We, who neither bask in the trappings of the life of the one percent nor experience the hardship and privation of its mirror twenty; we, who are blessed enough to afford all that we need (and much of what we would ever desire) in this world, somehow in this new ecosystem of extremes, we take root, and our seed finds soil. Still, beneath all this, the question remains: what capacity do we, the unreasonably happy people, the people in the middle, to make a difference in the world?
From the petri dish of our moyenne existence we are told—we are led to believe—that in the grand scheme of things, there isn’t much that we can do to change things, to make much of a difference, and as such, it’s best we sit down, shut up, and stay in our lane. Leave the impact work to the activists and the Tony Starks of this world. Well, to quote the Kilian Experience: This is not a great way to run a theme park. Or, for that matter, to live a worthwhile and fulfilling life.
Let’s paint a picture of social conformist expectation and how it superimposes itself upon even the uppermost of upper middle. As a member of the legacy class (as refresher, one of my grandfathers is stupendously wealthy) any prosperity that trickled itself down to me was expected to be consolidated into conservative investments, or else earmarked to purchase status-defining doodads like yachts, expensive cars, and far too many round-the-world business class tickets. Then, ten years later, I was supposed to turn around, wondering where it all went, and eventually face the inevitability of needing to return to the roost, where I would work for “the company” for the rest of my life. Of course I am joking. Being an ethnic Malay, I would never be allowed to work for “the company” for any if not that length of time.
Truth is, I’ve seen this happen within startling regularity from among the ranks of my relatives. People with millions upon millions worth of assets, all walking around believing themselves to be paupers, because they don’t have the thirty gajillion (or however much it is now) that my grandfather has. I won’t lie to you. By sheer combination of good fortune, grit and hard work, and some business savvy, I’m no pauper. While I won’t tell you exactly how much there is to my name (it’s probably somehow both more than and not as much as you’d think) I will say that it is enough. More than. It’s so enough as to sufficiently stoke my belief in my ability to make a difference in this world that making a difference is exactly what my wife and I started doing in 2012 and haven’t stopped since.
Unreasonable happiness is something like an act of rebellion. Like gratitude, choosing an attitude of happiness in spite of external challenges acts like a steam piston, energizing everything around it with the value with which it’s imbued. I remember seeing in front of me, back in 2008, the choice to self-fund my work, knowing that there would be a trade-offs. Travel: gone. Luxuries: gone. Car: utilitarian. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that the trade I was making was a good one. So what if I didn’t drive a vanity vehicle; the ability to put out a single every year without being in the hock of some greasy record label exec just seemed much more, I don’t know, worthwhile. Leveraging that discretionary line item in the name of creativity, to further the wonder in the world, this had to be a exchange worth making.
Thus began the journey that has continued through to this day. And to answer the burning question, the trade has been, has always been, worth it. I never miss those business class tickets to Singapore, anymore than I miss that BMW SUV, that motorboat, those golf clubs and that prestigious pickleball membership that I’ll never use. But the ability to create, and create freely, is something both priceless and beyond value.
The path to making a difference runs full, well, and through the fertile plains of life’s middle road. It is not merely accessible to the uber-rich and the lifelong advocate. Resources can be siphoned, and energies brought to bear, if making a difference is your desire. We are charged today to be unreasonably happy people. Let us bring to bear this unreasonable happiness to make a positive difference wherever we can. So: go forth. Be happy! And light up the world, wherever you are.
Travel safe and talk soon.
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