When I was in first year high school, I remember a guy teacher who gave us an activity which was about writing any questions. I can’t remember what was that activity for but I’m pretty sure it was just about writing questions about LIFE. So I wrote “Are you contented with your life?”. Upon checking out our papers, he read my question out loud. Then he sarcastically smirked. Me was puzzled and felt a bit nervous. Teacher then said how stupid my question was, that the answer is NO and it’s damn obvious for everybody, that it doesn’t take a minute from anyone to answer it. And because it came from our teacher, my classmates agreed, and asked whose question was that. Teacher said he won’t name me because I might get ~offended~ (DUH!) but then my classmates insisted. He then mentioned my name. I was damn hurt and humiliated that I was bursting into tears. And again, because it came from a teacher, I felt so stupid and all.
I’ll never ever ever ever ever forget that moment.
Today, I randomly read that question again in a certain book. It then reminded me of that activity.
It wasn’t a stupid question, NO is not always the answer, it also takes a lifetime to answer that question. Damn teacher, he must have had so many insecurities in life that he couldn’t answer “YES” or “MAYBE”, not even “NOT QUITE”. And apparently, he’s focused in all the negativities he have in life. Also, he doesn’t know what contentment means, how immense is that word.
Contentment is a matter of being happy with what you have, instead of wishing you have something else.
Clearly, you just can’t say a NO until you think about it deeply, until you go through life and know the whole you.
People are insatiable, it’s human nature, yes. But once you find an answer to that question, things change. Say your answer is a NO, you will continue to hunger for more things in life, strive more, but in the end, you’ll still end up hungry and unhappy. Why? Cos you’re not yet contented and that’s an unstoppable cycle. Say your answer is a YES, that hunger stops and you learn to love the whole you. Being content guarantees a life with no disappointment and hunger for anything this world could offer.
Bottom line is: being content can be learned. So you just can’t always answer NO.