Some years ago, they did a documentary on one of the broadcast networks (it may have been one of John Stossel’s earlier works on ABC) about happiness. The statistic that has stuck in my mind ever since is that once you get to subsistence level — that is, once you pass the point at which a person literally does not know where their next meal is coming from — the percentage of people who identify themselves as being happy and the percentage who identify themselves as being unhappy are about the same regardless of income level. There are happy and unhappy poor people, happy and unhappy rich people, happy and unhappy middle class people.

I complain about my job, my finances, and a million other little things. But the fact of the matter is, if all of my supposed problems were solved tomorrow I’d find something else to complain about. I need an attitude adjustment worse than I need money or a new job.