The problem with success is that you need to make a lot of money to achieve that distinction. Gone are the days when a person would retire and said he had a successful career as a professional without having any money in the bank.
I met an old school mate and I enquired about his teaching job. I would not say he admitted that he made a mistake quitting his job as a director of a government office, but there was a hint of that. Though he had job satisfaction, he said, teaching never earns you a lot of money.
Between two of his jobs, he had an unsuccessful stint as a businessman. However, contracts would not come and bills mounted and he was forced to look for a job once again. His teaching job does not pay much, but it does pay his expenses. He does not seem to be too proud about it simply because he is not in the earning bracket that would qualify him as successful.
As we were standing in a parking lot talking, a Mercedes Coupe pulled out and he looked longingly at it. I interrupted his thoughts and said: “The man must have huge monthly instalments to drive that car.”
He asked me if I knew him. I said I never saw him before. He then asked me: “How you know about his instalments?”
“He is too young to afford car like that,” I told him. All I wanted was to make him feel good, but he was not in the mood.
“Age got nothing to do with it. He must be doing something successful,” he said and after a considerable thought, and added: “Certainly, he is not a teacher.”
We left it like that and parted company. A week later, I was invited to a wedding and after the ceremony someone honked his horn as I was walking to my car. I peered in the dark and saw a face that I recognised somewhere in my past. It was a former colleague sitting behind an old banger. I smiled as I approached him and he asked what was so funny.
“You are not supposed to drive this car,” I explained to him, “you are a successful builder. I expect you to drive an expensive car.”
He said he was not a show-off. He was a man who went along with his needs and owning a smart vehicle was not one of them. He also confessed that he does not even have his own house.
“Why should I waste a house living in it when I can sell it for a profit?” He said: “It is cheaper to rent. I rotate my money in a good way.”
I looked at him in amazement. This man has torn into shreds the theory of success. Smart cars and posh houses are symbols of good achievement. The man obviously liked to stash away his cash in the bank. Perhaps, it made him feel good or he was just eccentric. He was busy rotating his money in saving accounts to bother about what wealth could buy him.
You need to have all sorts of friends to learn all the extremes. Nobody seems to appreciate moderation. Either you are successful or not. Fewer people these days are thankful to the simple fact that they can manage to make ends meet.
I have a feeling that doctors and teachers never find job satisfaction, even though they practice the most honourable professions on earth. They need to earn enough to maintain a healthy bank balance to get a buzz from their jobs. If they don’t, then it is just another grinding existence.
The writer is an Oman-based freelance columnist. This article has been reproduced from the Khaleej Times.