[woofa.express]

Does Simplicity impede Well Being and Happiness.

We all strive to better ourselves. Mostly financially, it’s sort of an inbuilt goal. More money leads to almost everything we desire. Material items, pursuit of holidays or better education for our kids, the list is endless. If we have money we try to build upon it or at least protect it. When we succeed at this we are all pleased with ourselves but are we happy? Well that depends on ones definition of happiness doesn’t it.
I worked a few months each year in Sabah which is a Malaysian state in the north of Borneo. Basically Malaysians are a fairly weary lot and employ guest workers to do their lifting. These guest workers come from other Muslim countries namely Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and the southern islands of Philippines and that’s probably it. My work buddies were Filipino’s and they were hard working, happy and personable. Us expat pilots lived in a palm oil company hotel / resort. Quite comfortable with good food for Asian diners. Short on vegetables.
Half a mile away was what was called the Filipino village. A shanty town where many of these guest workers lived. Mostly they were undocumented people which industry (mostly government industry) loved because they paid them very little money for their labour. These people were transported here by Philippine pirates, yes that’s fair dinkum. Sometimes the Malaysian police would intercept these boats and take a premium from these passengers.
The police also found their illegal liquor plant and confiscated it. A premium was added so the price went up but still cheap. The beer,a pilsener, San Magill was excellent and the rum, Tanduay was horrid.
In addition to people smuggling these pirates had fast and long boats that were powered by 3 times 150hp outboards. They would raid coastal towns and were regarded as merciless and fearless. The police and military would evacuate rather than face them.
Boy, I’ve really got away from the story haven’t I.
But back to the Filipino guest workers. As I said they lived in a shanty town, grubby with houses that looked like a kids fort or playhouse. However, they were so happy. The laughter, the camaraderie amongst themselves. The kids were so happy too. When I was a kid I remember boys books showing kids driving wheel outer rims or tyres by hitting them with as tick. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it’s called hoop rolling, illustrated below except the Philippine kids were not comparably dressed. Well this was a standard toy there. No battery driven cars or trains and definitely no radio control toys. Just a wheel and a stick. Boy were those kids enjoyed themselves.
They didn’t have wealth on which to build and protect. Their houses were rough. They didn’t have innerspring mattresses they slept on the floor. No job security nor superannuation.

Do you think each of us could learn from them?