{"id":39794,"date":"2016-08-16T13:44:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T05:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/?p=39794"},"modified":"2016-08-16T13:45:06","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T05:45:06","slug":"things-money-cant-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/2016\/08\/16\/things-money-cant-buy\/","title":{"rendered":"Things money can’t buy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This was a post that I wrote for a local student magazine a few months back\u00a0which\u00a0I think\u00a0would be useful to share here too. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/p>\n

Whenever I step into a classroom, the first question that I get asked is this: which profession in the design world makes more money: animators, graphic designers, or illustrators? Or how about multimedia artists or videographers? My reply was that there\u2019s plenty of ways to make money \u2013\u00a0lots and lots of money perhaps. Not all of them are in the design industry. But all of it comes with a price. Heck, sometimes jobs\u00a0that make the most money aren’t\u00a0even legal, and you can bet that they’re dangerous. So again. There are plenty of ways to make money \u2013\u00a0not all of them are good. So herewith the question beckons: why all this talk about money first?<\/p>\n

I can understand \u2013\u00a0I was once a student myself.<\/p>\n

I was once so poor that I had to split a plate of economy rice with my friend. For those who don’t know what economy rice is, it’s a shop where they have 20-30 different kinds of side dishes that go with rice, ranging from meat dishes to vegetables, to other condiments. It’s popular with students because it’s fast and cheap \u2013 just grab a plate of rice and scoop up whatever you want and go to the counter to pay for what you’ve scooped. Back to the story: we had RM2.00 between us left for food. We went up to the lady in the restaurant and showed her the coins we had left and asked her what we could have from her array of dishes. I wasn\u2019t sure if it was pity, or understanding \u2013\u00a0but she scooped what ever was left over from a few dishes and gave us each an egg to top it all off. We were thankful for the meal and conveyed our thanks to the lovely shopkeeper \u2013\u00a0whom we fondly patronised for as long as we studied there.<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t flush with cash. We didn\u2019t have shopping malls. And we didn\u2019t even have McDonalds around each corner (this was in the year 2000). Money was tight \u2013 purchasing art supplies, books and endless trips to the printing house made sure of that. Whatever was left we scrimped on food. Bread was a staple at the time too \u2013\u00a0when we\u2019re running out of time and cash, nothing fills you up faster than a roll of chocolate bun with a sticky black pseudo-chocolate filling with a side of lukewarm water.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all very different now, of course. You have malls, left, right and centre. Fast food kiosks as far as the eye can see. Gourmet restaurants abound; and you\u2019re spoilt for choice. Temptation in its many forms that clue you in on what money represents. And that\u2019s just food. Let\u2019s not even wander into the fashion industry, or the giant virtual malls that reside within the internet \u2013\u00a0one that offers a gateway to everything and anything your heart desires; open and available 24\/7 with a mere click of a button and a working credit card.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t blame you at all for thinking that cash is king. Money buys you lots of things. It buys you good food. Rad clothing. Fun toys. The best equipment and art supplies. And all these things make you happy. It\u2019s a rather straight forward equation. Or is it?<\/p>\n

The thing about money though, is that it doesn\u2019t buy you freedom. When you\u2019re doing things purely for money, you\u2019re a slave to it. And it becomes your master. You\u2019ll find yourself slaving away for him, in exchange for something that won\u2019t be able to buy the things that truly matter. Things like love, friendship and time.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re living in a time where we constantly consume. We don\u2019t create as much as we should, and this is a shame; because if we\u2019re not creating, we are most likely consuming instead. Our eyes are fixated on screens while our wallets are empty. Our hearts grow heavy with greed; an endless, bottomless pit that desires more, more, more. The indescribable emptiness that spreads across our chest even as we move from one novelty to the next. One day we\u2019ll find ourselves wondering what happened along the way that made us lose more of ourselves, little by little, piece by piece.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all essentially broken \u2013\u00a0in fragments and bits, scattered around us in the people we love, the places we live in and the experiences we\u2019ve yet to discover. Gathering those pieces and putting them together is what makes us human, and it\u2019s what makes us special. We\u2019re made up of everything, and yet we\u2019re nothing. Money is merely an enabler and not the destination.<\/p>\n

Do the things you\u2019re good at, and the things that you love. Pick up the fragments and pieces of yourself through the work you do, so that you may put yourself back together. Figuring out how to do it is the best part about growing wiser. In the beginning you will be poor. You might have to share a plate of economy rice with a friend to get by (I hope not). But you\u2019ll do better. The trick is to get better at the things you love, and to be nourished by the things you learn and the experiences you pick up along the way. Always endeavour to leave a mark. So much so that other people start to notice and respect you for what you do, and why you do it.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019ll realise along the way that the \u201cwhy\u201d isn\u2019t always about the money.<\/p>\n

It rarely ever is.<\/p>\n

[Illustration: Thomas Bayrle]<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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