Peace, Prosperity & Paper

This from another site that I write for but I’m sure some of these youngins on this site are asking the same questions. Listen to the song first or while your reading.

A Tribe Called Quest- Peace, Prosperity & Paper

What is money? Is it just paper? Something that tells people who you are? What class you belong in? How many girls you get? How many material objects you can buy? How high your ceiling of achievement is? I’ve struggled to find this answer for many years without any luck. Some people seem to have found the answer. But maybe a better question is, do we really need money to be happy? I mean… I could always agree with A Tribe Called Quest and say that all I need is, Peace, Prosperity, and a little Paper but I’m the type to ask confusing questions and then punch you in your pretty little mother lovin’ face; plus it’s hard to believe artists that actually have massive amounts of money.

Many people search for this happiness through the doing the right thang and going to school and finding a job. Some people try to obtain this happiness through artificial means as I’m sure most of us have(or at least tried). Even though it’s far away in my relatively short time on this earth, I’ve been thinking what is it that will make me happy? I mean real, lasting happiness. I’ve experimented with things that I thought would bring me happiness but all in all it really hasn’t. Whether it was things that I choose not to talk about, religion, sports, girls, school, I haven’t found that thing that has truly made me happy. Immediate family is great and all but there’s a certain boringness if that the right word that comes with family and being around the same people for 19 years. But the confusion is that part of this American dream will in fact include at least one if not more people that you will essentially spend the rest of your life with. That will be fine if I decide that I would be able to put away my playa card and settle down but that’s definitely not anywhere in the near future. What about kids? Yeah, those annoying little gremlins that constantly cry when they don’t get something and drag boogers all over the place. I don’t see happiness in those things(no offense). How about the beautiful house in the suburbs with the white picket fence? In this economy…I don’t think sooo!!!

With those options out of the way, is there any other means of happiness? Drugs, Sex, Money? Wife, Children, House? Peace, Prosperity, Paper? Choose one…

Without answering, I want you guys to know the real reason I brought this topic up. This song made me wonder by some way through their extensive travels and all this wisdom that they gathered in order to tell me where MY happiness will come from, did the members of A Tribe Called Quest find the answer to everyone’s troubles. Let’s break this down.

Peace: freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession. Prosperity: a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition. Paper: money. This is nice and all but it doesn’t include how you’re going to get even a little peace in this world. In order to have prosperity I’m sure I either have to be a religious man or a CEO of some company in order to feel successful. How about the fact that you need a little bit of paper and then how much paper is going to be enough for me to just live. I don’t know if they have the answer either.

All of these things are somewhat attainable but are they the true source of happiness? Some people might be able to tell you but I’ve struggled to see that these goals can be reached by most. The point I’m trying to make is are you willing to go jump through 10 ft high hoops to achieve this perceived happiness or will you succumb to the battle and look for meaningless happiness. With most of us being music fans, we’ve seen many examples of this search for meaningless happiness no matter what genre. But after all, what do I know? Im just a 19 year old college student and I’m sure I have much more to learn about this thing we call happiness.