My life is perfect, at least as for now. At my 19 yo, I am really happy. I have everything: a comfortable bed, a house, a loving family. I have absolutely everything I need to be happy.
I say this because I like comparing my situation to other people's situations in the past or in a third world country, just to see how fortunate I am. How fortunate most of us are, actually.
I am going to college and am studying engineering, so most probably I won't be jobless in the future and I will easily have a living wage. I am not even considering the option to earn more than $50,000 a year, with less than that I'll be as happy.
I have a job in the weekends, I don't love it but I don't hate it. It gets me money, and I know it is just a step stone for a better job.
If I want food, I can find food anywhere. If I am sick, I could go to the doctor. Unless I am really unlucky, there's no chance I'll die soon.
There's only one thing that doesn't make me fully happy. There's just one thing that I need. My girlfriend. She lives in Venezuela and we have been together for 3 years, but I moved to the US one year ago.
She is not as fortunate as I am, but she still lives and tries to survive. There's a lot of scarcity in Venezuela, so she can't eat what she wants, just what she finds. She needs to travel 4 to 6 hours daily in a bus to go to college. It just takes me 15 minutes to go in car. I am never in danger, she can be killed or robbed at any time for any reason, and because she's always exposed in the street, it is really easy for that to happen.
Most of what I earn, I save it for her, to help her. What I earn in a month part-time, is what her mom earns every six months full-time, just because Venezuela has one of the worst world inflations.
What she experiences everyday, every Venezuelan experiences that as well. I escaped from my country at the right time at the right moment, just because I was lucky. She has worked really hard her entire life, and she is extremely smart. She deserves everything, and most probably if she were born here, she would have had a full ride in a ivy-league school. However, she just goes to a regular school really far from her house because that was the only option that she could get. She doesn't even have internet in her house, because where she lives she can't get it, it is just impossible.
She's the only thing that I need to make my life perfect. And now you are telling me that I can be financially independent in 20 years from now, just by saving 50% of my salary? Wow.
Life is unfair, but not for me. I am not bragging, but I am just stating how fortunate I am and how grateful I am because of that.
Most of the money I earn, is for her, to help her and to see her. I want her to to go to Argentina and study there, it wouldn't cost me more than $15k and it would be safer for her. She can even work there so it would cost less.
Yet my mom believes I am depriving myself by giving my girlfriend money, and not buying clothes or things for me. I just said, I don't need anything, falling into consumerism would make be unhappy. My family believes I am depriving myself, and that I am stopping myself from ''living'' by working to help her. They are really good-hearted people, they just do not understand even though they come from her same background. They just got used to and fell completely into the consumerist and comfortable American life.
I just wanted to share my story, and thought you may be interested to read it. She cannot move out to the US because I am not a citizen, and I just need to wait four more years for that. After that, I'll absolutely have everything, and I will be happy forever.
Many people do not know how fortunate they are because they got used to their life. If you are living in a developed country, most probably you are one of the 10% most fortunate people in the world, and perhaps 99.9% of all humans who have lived in the past aren't as lucky as you are.
Knowing this place and just knowing a new perspective in life, and the fact that I do not need money to be happy, makes everything even better. This place and these people have taught me that. Thank you very much!
