Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Albert Einstein
Ours is a materialistic society obsessed with numbers. In our attempt to quantify everything, we tend to forget that there is so much more to life than numbers can ever reflect.
It would be downright foolish to downplay the importance of materialistic things in life with clichéd, impractical statements. Money obviously matters, both to meet our daily needs and to lead a comfortable life. Likewise, one must always keep working hard to accomplish their materialistic goals. That said, equally important is to stop every now and then to express our appreciation for the people who make our lives worth living.
You see, it is so easy to start taking things for granted in life, especially when we have become used to their presence. These are generally aspects that are almost impossible to measure in figures. For instance, what price can one put on motherly love or the time we spend with our best friends? What good can a million-dollar salary do if we have no one to welcome us home at night? And yet, these are the most overlooked, the most unappreciated/under-appreciated moments in our lives. More often than not, it is only the loss of these precious people or the glaring absence of the moments we spent with them that makes us realize what they actually meant to us.
It might sound daunting in a world embroiled in a rat race to amass wealth, but it really isn’t too difficult to take out a few minutes every day for our loved ones. You will be amazed at how a thirty-minute candid chat with your mother can brighten up her day and relieve your stress. This will probably make her happier than, say, an overpriced gift. The same goes for the other people who really matter to us. It is never too late to let people know what they mean to you.
Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist. Widely acclaimed as one of the greatest physicists of all time, Einstein once remarked: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”