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Perspective - there's always someone who has it harder

Bekit

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Somehow I ran across this video today.

Towards the end of the video, the story took a turn that made me go very still on the inside.

It turns out this guy living in an Indian slum is an entrepreneur. He sells watches. I sat up and took notice.

But the details!
  • He might sell 3-4 watches on a good day.
  • One watch might sell for 300-400 rupees ($4.31 - $5.75).
  • He has many zero-sale days.
  • He is in debt to someone else for all the watches. They fronted him the money to buy his inventory. He keeps only the profit above what he owes this other guy back for each watch.
  • He makes 50-100 rupees profit per watch ($0.72 - $1.44).
And yet, he is supporting his wife, his two children, and his sister.

How? Just - how?

I often forget how good I have it. It's easy to complain silently to myself when I look at people who have the capital to start investing in something big, like real estate. It's easy to classify myself as "one of those millennials who came of age right when the market crashed, so I don't get to have the life that my parents' generation had, Boo hoo."

And then I see something like this and realize how much harder it could be.

There's always going to be somebody ahead of me.
And there's always going to be somebody behind me.
And it's good to look back and be grateful for where I am and how far I've come.

Not that I won't keep reaching higher.

But these reminders help me to press on my way with gratitude and a lighter heart.
 
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Atu

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Do not think in numbers, especially in government-controlled currencies. Think in purchasing power of your working hour. How much you can obtain for 1h or 1 day of your activities is a direct reflection of the value you are giving (or not) to others.

Other way of comparison would be an equivalent in ounces of gold. Your way of thinking will change once you start to recalculate everything to pure gold.

And best wishes :)
 

Patrick Jones

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Reliable numbers are hard to come by, but if you make more than $40k a year, you're probably in the top 1% of global earners.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Gratitude is an underdeveloped and underappreciated skill to have.

For me, sometimes all it takes is a hot shower, a warm bed inside away from the rain, or a lounge on the patio with the sun beating on my face.
 
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ZCP

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And it's good to look back and be grateful for where I am and how far I've come.
Think we do not do this enough! Need to give ourselves credit for where we have gotten to date.
We are the type constantly striving for better and focusing on what could be better.

Sometimes stop and appreciate what you have done! Allow yourself to be awesome!
 

socaldude

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This is why I like traveling.

It gives you an insight into how other people struggle and survive.

It also gives an insight of economic scarcity at play. It's the number one economic principle at work.

For example Americans spend billions on online shopping and have stuff delivered to their door. In most other countries, they don't do that. There is not enough disposable income to be clicking away and ordering stuff online.

Not to mention it opens your eyes to opportunities. You can import or export certain ideas or products where it hasn't been utilized.
 

Bekit

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Well, he has chosen it.
Partly.
  • He didn't choose his parents.
  • He didn't choose his caste.
  • He didn't choose to be born into circumstances that probably deprived him of even basic education.
  • He didn't choose to be born into a slum. (I don't know that he was born in this slum, but the same YouTuber uploaded a video of the family next door, and they said that their great grandfather lived in the house they now live in. So I assume that generation after generation is born here, lives here, and dies here.)

Correspondingly,
  • I didn't choose my parents.
  • I didn't choose to be born in America, in a home with hot water, electricity, and computers.
  • I didn't choose to be born into circumstances that made it possible for me to not only receive an elementary and high-school education, but graduate from college debt-free.
  • I didn't choose to be born into a family that speaks English.
Do you see how much of a gift I was given by circumstances that were none of my choosing? The point of my post was not to highlight the poor choices that a guy living in an Indian slum might have made. It was to highlight the immense opportunities I have to be grateful.

We all have a mixture of choices and circumstances that are handed to us.

So, sure, let's acknowledge that the guy in the video made choices. Most definitely.
  • He chose to go in debt for the watches. Maybe he shouldn't have. Maybe there are better opportunities available to him, and maybe not. Maybe he sees opportunity and seizes it, and maybe he doesn't.
  • He (maybe) chooses to go on living in the slum. But then again, maybe that choice is not available to him yet. If he's making $1 per day, where else is he going to be able to afford to live?
  • He (maybe) chooses not to better himself by reading, learning, improving his mindset, and removing his limiting beliefs. But now I'm just getting into speculation.
Regardless of what he's choosing or not choosing, I fundamentally agree with the premise of your profile picture (that nothing is impossible for him).

However, he has a much longer distance to travel over very basic territory in order to get to even meager breakthroughs for the betterment of himself and his family.

And seeing that immense gap of distance was what provoked in me a tremendous amount of gratitude for how good I actually have it.
 

MB2

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A Tiny island down the ocean (Ceylon)
Partly.
  • He didn't choose his parents.
  • He didn't choose his caste.
  • He didn't choose to be born into circumstances that probably deprived him of even basic education.
  • He didn't choose to be born into a slum. (I don't know that he was born in this slum, but the same YouTuber uploaded a video of the family next door, and they said that their great grandfather lived in the house they now live in. So I assume that generation after generation is born here, lives here, and dies here.)

Correspondingly,
  • I didn't choose my parents.
  • I didn't choose to be born in America, in a home with hot water, electricity, and computers.
  • I didn't choose to be born into circumstances that made it possible for me to not only receive an elementary and high-school education, but graduate from college debt-free.
  • I didn't choose to be born into a family that speaks English.
Do you see how much of a gift I was given by circumstances that were none of my choosing? The point of my post was not to highlight the poor choices that a guy living in an Indian slum might have made. It was to highlight the immense opportunities I have to be grateful.

We all have a mixture of choices and circumstances that are handed to us.

So, sure, let's acknowledge that the guy in the video made choices. Most definitely.
  • He chose to go in debt for the watches. Maybe he shouldn't have. Maybe there are better opportunities available to him, and maybe not. Maybe he sees opportunity and seizes it, and maybe he doesn't.
  • He (maybe) chooses to go on living in the slum. But then again, maybe that choice is not available to him yet. If he's making $1 per day, where else is he going to be able to afford to live?
  • He (maybe) chooses not to better himself by reading, learning, improving his mindset, and removing his limiting beliefs. But now I'm just getting into speculation.
Regardless of what he's choosing or not choosing, I fundamentally agree with the premise of your profile picture (that nothing is impossible for him).

However, he has a much longer distance to travel over very basic territory in order to get to even meager breakthroughs for the betterment of himself and his family.

And seeing that immense gap of distance was what provoked in me a tremendous amount of gratitude for how good I actually have it.

Well.....You did.

You did CHOOSE everything you think that you did NOT choose! Not only you but everyone else.

Everything is connected and has a cause! And it's a spiritual topic.
 
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Bekit

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Well.....You did.

You did CHOOSE everything you think that you did NOT choose! Not only you but everyone else.

Everything is connected and has a cause! And it's a spiritual topic.
Well, ok. Your belief system is different than mine. In order for your point to be true, one must accept that reincarnation is true (he chose this in a former life). That is a premise that I disagree with.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:1-3)

Since your belief system is different than mine, can we please agree to sidestep the religious debate and focus on the parts that we can all agree on?

Someone else has it harder than me, and that can help to inspire gratitude in me, which is a good thing and helps me to maintain a positive mindset and make better choices.
 
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