Be honest, there is just so much in one’s life to be un-grateful for. And at so many levels mind you. Firstly let’s take the physical aspect of oneself. You could always be a little thinner, taller, prettier, fairer. The list could just go on and on. Then of course, there is always the all important question of money. Or lack thereof to be precise. If only you could have a little (okay makethat a whole lot more) of that precious com­modity what a life it would be. People who say money can’t buy happiness obvi­ously don’t know where to shop!One can only imagine the thrill of breezing into those world famous designer shops and picking up (without a care or a thought in the world!) the latest shoes, bags, clothes, jewellery, etc. Not to mention the luxury car the chauffer would keep the shopping in to take you hack to your ten bedroom man­sion, via the exclusive club of course, where you would stop over for a relaxing spa treatment before heading home to a beauti­fully prepared meal by your fab­ulous cook!Yes you guessed it. The list can go on and on here too. And why stop at just the materialistic side of life. Your children could definitely be better looking, smarter, more popular, more tal­ented, which in turn leads to the contentious topic of your spouse. Now whoever heard of liking what you got in that de­partment? And the out-laws? Oh I’m sorry. I meant the in-laws. Let’s not even go there. So you see how easy it is to be over­whelmed by a persistent sense of discontent and.failure?Of-course, harbouring discon­tent can he rather taxing. It’s ex­hausting really, feeling cheated and bitter with life and all those around you all the time. You spend the better part of your life waiting for your lot to get better to realise it only got worse. The better part came and went and you didn’t even realise it. You were too busy being greedy for a slimmer, more aquiline face and body to understand that your fragile youth and robust health were the beauty you were chas­ing. And you wasted them away pining for something that could never be you. Better still, what irony to ac­tually get what you want only to realise it wasn’t what you were looking for after all. Like those parents who constantly feel bogged down by their chil­dren’s neediness and can’t wait for them to quickly grow up and become independent. Yet they look hack with such sad­ness at all those wasted, pre­cious moments they could have enjoyed with their children who now, as adults, have no time for them.Or the wife who wishes she had relished those quiet week?ends with her husband; eating, laughing, loving each other in? stead of secret ly pining for the glamorous din­ner parties she now regularly at-tends with him but can’t remem­ber the last time they got a chance to genuinely connect and enjoy each other’s company. Or the man who spent his entire life chasing fame and fortune at the cost of forsaking his family for a better future. And then woke up one day to realise that he had alienated the very family he was working so hard for. Today he may have attained his goal but finds no one meaningful in his life to enjoy the fruits of his la hour with. Then there is the woman who looks at her bored, fat, comfortable life and won­ders whether those trying days were better. With strange envy she recollects her slim and trim self, running around, keeping everything together, with no time for any random thoughts of boredom and unhappiness that now seem to plague her all the time.To mistake wants and desires with fulfilment is perhaps part and parcel of human tragedy. It’s as inevitable as man is fallible. Strange how those very wants and desires that fuel the world’s evo? lution at one level accounts for its devolution on the other. The desire for bigger, better, best: has taken man to the’; moon, but has left his life on earth a little less worthy.” The sheer length and breath, quan? tity and variety”. of consumable things in this world of ours today are mind boggling but s are the environmental, ethical and economic ex­cesses committed in the name of advancement and civi­lisation. The sheer ingenuous greed that catapulted the finan­cial world to new heights of wealth and abundance has even­tually lead to this tsunami-like global recession, the rippling effects of which are far greater than we can fathom.So who should one envy? The ordinary man gleefully chasing his child around the public park without a care in the world or the business tycoon shaking hands over a multimillion dollar project to build parks like the one this ordinary man enjoys the summer breeze in?