India needs to protect its people
The Indian government should not go ahead with the land acquisition bill, even as the Rajya Sabha session has convened to take up this contention (‘Mamata in street protest over land bill’, Gulf News, April 9). The proposed land bill is against the interest of famers and the common man.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be interested in protecting corporations and not the common folk. People who are evacuated in order to build roads and bridges for industries on their land, have all but disappeared from the mainstream. We can’t find these people anywhere in the picture now. Most of the time, the Indian government’s promises are not fulfilled. Before introducing this bill, the authorities should make sure the farmers, fishermen and people who are affected, are protected.
From Mr Eappen Elias
Dubai
No child should shoot a gun
Seeing this young girl shooting an AK47 is not something to be proud of and I find it very irresponsible on the part of the parents (‘Saudi girl firing AK47 sparks outrage’, Gulf News, April 9). She is not at the right age to be involved with these kinds of things and still lacks proper judgement. I hope she does not injure anyone in the days to come. What if she hurts her family, their workers, pets or, worst of all, herself?
From Ms Jen Yanger Gatuslao
UAE
Facebook comment
In the real world, things happen
I learnt how to shoot at the age of four. I don’t think there’s any need to hype up a single image. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if the girl’s father didn’t even know she had the gun. I think we need to tell the idealists to lighten up. Some of us actually live in the real world.
From Ms Rouillie Wilkerson
UAE
Facebook comment
A public responsibility to be upset
I don’t agree with Ms Rouillie Wilkerson. Just because these things happen, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be outcry and public dismay. I strongly believe that sometimes parents need to be shamed into social sense and responsibility to look after their young. We see this all the time in the comment sections, when children fall off balconies or are locked in cars, or get into other dangerous situations. People get upset and they are angry with the parents for their lack of vigilance.
Maybe the next person will be more careful, keep their guns locked and away from children or decide to wait a few more years before letting their child have a go at shooting a lethal weapon. Just last year, a nine-year-old girl in the US accidentally killed her shooting instructor because the gun was more than she could handle. We just have to keep getting upset and hope that it will make someone think twice. It’s our responsibility, being part of a community.
From Ms Lili Maria
Dubai
Facebook comment
You cannot buy peace
Money can’t give us happiness because money can buy you a car, but it can’t buy you a safe journey (‘Focus: Money vs happiness’, Gulf News, April 10). Money can buy you a house, but it can’t buy you security. It can buy you food, but it can’t buy you an appetite. It can pay your hospital bills, but it can’t give you good health. It can give you everything, but can’t promise you peace. Additionally, happiness is a temporary state and it is generated by worldly possessions. It is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterised by positive or pleasant emotions or happenings. The only thing that we truly need is inner peace and joy. This can only be given to us by God. While this is a feeling of great pleasure, it is not caused by positive or pleasant events — only by the Almighty.
From Mr Lewis Chosen
UAE
Facebook comment
Balancing work and pleasure
The key to the balance between money and happiness is not to choose a job, live in a place or sacrifice time — life’s most valuable commodity — just to make more money. Choose a fulfilling job, do not move just to make more money and always save time for your family and for your health. Then, be happy with whatever money you have. If you have more than you need, then spend a little. The key is to not just blindly save and collect money, but to use the money wisely and enjoy what life has to offer.
Whether it’s a large and expensive trip to visit family, a gym membership or something smaller like a satellite dish to watch your favourite TV shows, tickets to a concert or a nice meal at a fine restaurant, it’s important to treat yourself. If you keep a balance between work and making money and taking time out to care for your health, spending time with family and also enjoying what life has to offer, you will have no regrets. This, in and of itself, is an important key to being happy.
From Mr Talat S. Chughtai
Montreal, Canada
Money, a necessary evil
I think every expatriate who is sending money home knows that money is what keeps the family happy. Otherwise, they will complain when they call back home. It’s sad, but it’s a true fact of life. Money is a necessary evil in this world to be happy.
From Mr Nilofer Taher
Dubai
Facebook comment
How to be happy with money
All of those people who say money cannot buy happiness simply do not know where to go to shop! Now that aside, money and happiness are closely related. People often work in a place they are not at all happy with, and for what? Money. If people starve without proper clothes and shelter, would they say they are happy? No. In Dubai, for every meeting with friends or family, a decent amount of money is spent. Without it, I don’t think you can be happy. If you don’t have money to spend, you cannot go to good restaurants. So, money and happiness are directly proportional. Having said that, I don’t think money is the soul of all happiness.
From Ms Jaria J.
Dubai
Facebook comment
Acts of kindness with money
I don’t remember any time in my life when money has made me happier than a small act of kindness done for me by someone. At times, we forget ourselves and run after money, but then again, if there is no place where we can spend our money or no people whom we love to spend it on, how is it going to make us happy?
From Ms Maha Xulfiqar
UAE
Only good for basic needs
Money gives us certain security, but it cannot make us happy, because an average person does not generally possess an immense amount of money. It pushes off the need to worry about basic needs, but it is not a source of happiness.
From Mr Yousuf Said
UAE
Facebook comment
It will never be enough
Happiness is not when you have money and when you can forget everything. Happiness is when you have no money, but still feel like you have everything. Money can’t buy you intrinsically valuable things, but it can buy material things that have no real value. Money can make enemies, not friends. Value yourself, not your money.
From Mr M. Happa
UAE
Full name withheld on request
Can’t live without material possessions
Whether you like it or not, and whether you agree with it or not, the source of happiness is money. We cannot have a complete and happy life if we are without money. We cannot make our family, friends and loved ones happy if we are without material things.
From Ms Neleen Pads
Dubai
Facebook comment
Happiness cannot be measured
Money is defined as the root cause of all evil but, for me, the saying that money can buy happiness is a perceptive term. Happiness is priceless when compared to the following scenarios. A smile from my child when I buy him his favourite chocolate. A smile from a construction worker or the staff at the petrol station when I just enquire after their day and how they feel.
What about the accomplishment of a goal as simple as drinking eight glasses of water in a day? A mother seeing her offspring for the very first time? These scenarios are priceless, as there is no scale to measure this form of elation or happiness.
Yes, money can help us stay close to other people, which is perhaps the key to happiness.
From Ms Gretchen Rubin
UAE
Thinking about Pakistan’s economy
The recent political crisis in Yemen has put the Pakistani governmental and military authorities in a quandary (‘Sharif pushes for peace in Yemen conflict’, Gulf News, April 8). Will this conflict make Pakistan take some strong decisions regarding sending its military troops to Saudi Arabia for its territorial safety? This is the question in the mind of every Pakistani. Yes, the country’s government has always supported Muslim countries in every way, but I understand why the present government under President Nawaz Sharif would need to think long and hard before deciding in favour of sending its troops.
Pakistan has always shown support to Saudi Arabia and all the other Muslim nations and it will continue to do so. The Pakistani government needs to give the nation confidence before deciding on this issue. As a nation, Pakistan is already in a state of war against terrorism within its borders. Pakistan has already suffered a lot on economic and political fronts.
Does the country’s economic condition allow them to get involved in yet another war? I think that the Sharif government is trying to think about the 182.1 million Pakistanis living within Pakistan. I hope that peace will prevail through talks and negotiations. These conflicts need political solutions.
From Ms Khaula Shahbaz Rao
Dubai
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