True Happiness

Did you ever meet those people who had everything they ever dreamed of and were the most miserable people in the world?  I have been coming across a lot of these people lately and some of them are extremely close to me.  When I was younger, I thought that material objects, locations, etc. would make me happy.  They didn't.  When I moved to Camp Hill from Wilkes-Barre that was definitely ingrained in my head.  I went to Cedar Cliff which is one of the most wealthy schools I have seen.  I came from a town that is falling apart.  The kids at Cedar Cliff seemed more unhappy than my peers in Wilkes-Barre.  I head kids bitching about not getting the Lexus they wanted or this or that.  Now I see them, and they are going no where and are seriously affected just in life.  Someone I know, has had everything handed to them since they were young, but they have no belief in themselves and it's a struggle for them to be happy.  They think that if they have all the money in the world they would never be stressed out.  They get money and are still stressed out.  When I talk to them, they admit that they are happy but they're missing something.  I think the greatest amount of wealth, is nothing compared to the feeling of contentment and being able to say to yourself "I am happy with where I am."  I've known people, many, that believe that if they leave where they are they will be happier but they are still the stressed, depressed people they always were. 

I've realized that I can't be around my brother and his wife anymore.  It hurts me a lot, and they are both good people.  Every time we go down there, they bicker with each other.  We went to a hockey game with them and within the first ten minutes of being there, he told her "You're replaceable, you know?"  Who says that to people.  My mom blames his problems on his childhood, IE; me entering the picture because all the attention wasn't on him anymore.  If this is my mother's excuse for how my brother treats his wife then it's a pretty poor one.  Things in our pasts can most certainly affect us in our adult lives.  There is a point where we have to get over it and stop walking around with a chip on our shoulder.  I don't plan to talk much to my brother or wife or my parents even, until they can learn to be around each other and stop bickering.  Life is too short to bitch about anything and everything that you CAN'T change and then bitch about the stuff that you can change and not do anything about it.  My brother needs to realize I didn't ask to be born, my mother needs to understand that she cheated and got pregnant and my husband even needs to realize sometimes that what other people say isn't important if it's not what you believe.