I had a good conversation with a friendly Indonesian taxi driver recently; He talked proudly of his family, and his and their life in Australia
He then suddenly threw out his philosophy on life: Don’t look to those that have more than us because we’ll always want more; Instead look to those that have less and be thankful
This is basically the same concept as Sarah Macdonald in her enjoyable book Holy Cow
I quite liked the book when I read it a number of years ago and had pondered this approach to life for a while, agreeing with it to some degree but there was also something in it that didn’t sit quite right with me
As I thought about it again in the taxi, I said no; An even better approach is to not simply look to those that have less, but put forward an effort to help them
This, my new Indonesian family man friend, is even more rewarding