I have a controversial opinion I’d like to
say here that may raise a few eyebrows.
Whoever believes that “money can’t buy happiness”
should take all their money and give it to me.
You can’t say that to people who are actually struggling and I’m pretty sure whoever it was who said this
didn’t have to spend more than half their lives working hard to earn it. It was probably someone who don’t
know the word “contentment” in their capacity to make their lives a lot easier compared to most people. They don’t appreciate not having to worry about
anything for the lack of it.
It’s really hypocritical to say that it CAN’T
buy happiness because it CAN.
The question is, what makes you happy anyway? If you’re like me who gets happy when I am able to give to my family, then it makes sense to say that money does buy you happiness. If we’d be realistic, the more money you have,
the lesser you are weighed down by the stress from paying off bills and everyday
expenses. Like how if money wasn’t an issue, you will be able to provide for your family.
At the moment, I got tons of problems that can
be solved easily if I have lots of money at my disposal.
I believe that even if you’re around family, loved
ones and most cherished friends, but you are besieged by financial
difficulties, I don’t think you can truly be happy. Whoever claims that they’re “happy
together even if our stomach’s empty” hasn’t been really hungry before. Poverty shouldn’t be romanticized as if it’s more noble to live it, and wanting money doesn’t mean an empty life with lesser purpose.
And if someone asks me why kids are happy even if they don’t have money, well they don’t have responsibilities that adults have, that’s why.
This doesn’t mean that I will treat money as a god, because that is not what I’m getting at. While money does buy some level of happiness, it isn’t everything. I said it can buy happiness but that is not to discount God, religion or other important things like health, love, friendship, etc. I didn't say that life is nothing but a quest for money.
Money is merely a tool to make your life a lot easier and for some, if not most of us, happier. Don’t shame me for saying something out loud that you probably thought deep inside too.
When I got the new TV last year, that’s the only time I decided
to get a Netflix subscription. For the longest time, I was okay just having the regular cable
channels such as HBO,
FOX and Crime Investigation Network to get me through. Besides, I don’t watch any shows on the local channels except when it’s the local news.
While everyone else is
raving at many Netflix series before, I’m practically clueless I might as well
be living under a rock. Even after getting the
subscription, I was not one to jump on the bandwagon by bingeing on the shows
everyone is talking about. Generally, I have little patience when it comes to
watching any TV series as I’m more of a movie fan. I enjoyed
Netflix not so much for the series but for rewatching my favorite television sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld.
In the very few times I did watch the more-talked-about Netflix series, I particularly enjoyed some of it such as Cobra Kai, Squid Game (which
was so popular last year) and Stranger Things.
To those who knew me well enough,
I once-upon-a-time liked anything British (not so much anymore). But I must
admit that I know very little about the British monarchy.
I was never fascinated with the Royals; I grew up reading about them through the National Enquirer and other gossip
tabloids sent by relatives from the States inside balikbayan boxes. Often, I only
read about their salacious scandals but not of their very colorful history that dates back to Queen Victoria herself.
I took interest only after the
death of Queen Elizabeth II last September. I started watching The Crown and
then The Royal House of Windsor, which was also on Netflix until it was removed
last month. From there I learned about the rich history of the Windsors including
some of the more interesting characters like King George V, King George VI, Prince
Philip, Princess Margaret, Louis Mountbatten and perhaps the most fascinating of
all the Royal family for me at least—Edward VIII (later on known as the Duke of Windsor).
I find The Crown riveting. Once I started watching the first few episodes, I couldn’t stop. I get excited when I learn new things. And while some of the scenes might be fiction and many were calling it out for some inaccuracies, it didn’t really matter because it was the writer’s creative license that made it brilliant. I was drawn more to it after every episode and it’s kinda fun to have Wikipedia on standby if I wanted to know more. The production is stunning and the actors and actresses playing the characters did an excellent job.
Claire Foy playing as the young
Queen Elizabeth gave the character depth and complexity.
It doesn’t hurt that she’s gorgeous and easy on the eye. I also love that she
had such chemistry with Matt Smith, the actor who played the young Prince
Philip.
I also didn’t mind much when Olivia
Colman stepped in as the middle-aged Queen for the third season. She conveyed
the monarch just as how I envisioned her: Regal. Guarded.
The episode about the Aberfan disaster where she acted almost stoic and closed-off made me see her as a cold, unsympathetic Queen, but then again one can argue that Brits are known for their emotional reticence as well.
Olivia almost showed no emotion the entire time, even when holding her own in
her tension-filled scenes with Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher.
***
Season 5 started last November 9
and even if most reviews shortly after its premiere were not very kind, it isn’t as bad.
The season shows an era of the monarchy in years when I was old enough to remember.
This season also saw the start of
the “issue” that is Princess Diana. The `90s wasn’t a good decade for the
monarchy, with 1992 being what Queen Elizabeth II herself described as ‘Annus
Horribilis’. This season features the decommissioning of Royal Yacht Britannia,
the Camillagate, the controversial Bashir interview, the Windsor Castle fire among many others. An
entire episode was also given to introduce Mohamed Al-Fayed and there were a lot of
things apart from him being Dodi Al-Fayed’s father which I’ve learned only after
watching it.
I admit there were moments when the mood is bleak, but I can’t say that there aren’t any scenes that got me invested. For one, the reunion of former lovers Princess Margaret (Lesley Manville) and Peter Townsend (Timothy Dalton) is too painful to watch. After all, it’s no secret that Peter was the love of Margaret’s life. It ultimately led to Margaret confronting the Queen for intervening on their marriage forty years earlier and Manville killed it.
But the highlight of the penultimate season
for me is the episode when Princess Diana paid the Queen (now in her sixties and played by Imelda Staunton) a visit to let her
know of the Bashir interview. The delivery of the lines was so powerful it almost knock the air off my chest. I am no monarchist, but for a moment I was rooting for the Queen. Loyally. Emphatically. To the hilt.
I’m glad I found that scene on YouTube to share here:
Season 5 ended hinting the beginning of Princess Diana’s affair with an already engaged Dodi: The invitation to St. Tropez. Now, I have read about this very trip in the American tabloids before so I know where this is heading.
And since I know how all this will end eventually, I realize that I’m more drawn to the post-war era of the Queen. I prefer the earlier seasons of The Crown when it’s focused on the young monarch in a period of transition.
The scandals (thanks to Charles, Diana and Camilla) may be appealing to the younger audiences, but I like The Crown showing us the finer years rather than its collapse. Like, I may know who Winston Churchill was, but I never knew him the way he was portrayed in this series. Accurate depiction or not, it’s rather fascinating.
Which is why I’d find myself rewatching the earlier seasons after finishing the 5th.
It’s one thing when a man says he
loves you many times, but nothing says it best when the man chooses you. They can say they have strong feelings for you, care about you deeply, but if he doesn’t seem to potentially see a future with you, then why stay?
Some relationships are too complicated, but one must simply uncomplicate it as it is the only way for it to work. If no effort was done in the best years to bring the relationship to the next level—when emotions are high and love is at its greatest—how can one expect it will ever happen in the future? Evading the topic and praying for things to get better can only go so
far. Giving justification as to why he can’t be with you is a great disservice to yourself. He will never be ready for a mature relationship that
requires responsibilities.
Before you know it, you already spent years waiting for him to step up. And the painful thing is finally waking up one day to that realization
that you waited for nothing because he will never choose you. He doesn’t love you
that much to commit.
And then you can only regret the
years that you wasted. Years that you could have used to explore other possibilities,
experience other things, focus on other people.
