Trying to Find Happiness in Costa Rica?

Costa Rica Editorial – My job is to read news from around the world and Costa Rica each and everyday and to share what I think people might find interesting. While sifting through the piles and piles of absolute bullshit that is reported on it is hard to smile about the future of the world and of Costa Rica.

While I know I am not the most intelligent person on the planet, it is in plain sight to see that so many media outlets have decided that reporting on certain events in certain ways leads to a fear in the minds of the population in order to keep them from going against the system.  A system that has obviously failed and has allowed a class of rulers that want to keep the “people” informed but yet powerless in trying to make any dramatic changes that would cause the current parties to lose control.

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican in the USA or abroad or if you are a Chinchilla (PLN party supporter), what you are failing to see is you are just a cog in the system.  Each of these systems, “democracies”, are no longer fighting for the best interest of their people and have now started to focus on hiding their corruption behind closed doors and lining their pockets with money.

Do you honestly think your vote matters one bit in the USA? The lobbyist money in Washington DC drives the decisions on how each representative votes, not what the constituents want.  There are of course exceptions but those elected officials that really want change normally have a short life span on the hill.

Most people when they are growing up in the USA are told the way to happiness is through following the rules and being a part of the system.  The life plan is normally something like this: go to high school and graduate, go to college and graduate, get a job out of college, buy a house, find a woman to have a life with and have 2.5 kids, and then work your entire life in corporate America. In your late 50s to 60s you then retire and live the rest of your life wondering what happened to your dreams.

But what is this system based on? The answer is debt……

After the student loans, car payments, credit card bills, mortgage payments, etc…. you feel trapped in a prison of financial debt that creates a fear in your mind to try to follow your dreams.  For all those that wanted to start their own business or take the risk and go to a foreign country, a huge amount of fear and doubt is placed in your mind through media outlets and society in general to go against what everyone else is doing.

You then become a cog in the system that sees you as just another financial investment.  For all those that do make money as a citizen in the USA, you then have the joy of paying up to 48% of your income back to a government that uses it for its own agenda, not for you.  And I am sure Republicans and Democrats alike want to pretend like their party is different, but they are all the same.  The opposite end of the spectrum are those that live off government help.  They get food stamps, money for rent, free cellphones, and anything else to fill their basic needs.  Keeping this large part of the US population happy and uneducated helps the ruling class stay in power.  If someone is reliant on another it makes them weak and subservient.

Unfortunately this is a worldwide problem.  Because of the increase in weaponry and the power that governments now have a revolution to change the system is next to impossible to come to fruition.  Add in the fact that the NSA and other government agencies are now reading emails, it would be extremely difficult to launch any kind of actual fight against these governments, so no one tries. Sure there are protests and articles written but the attention span of most people because of the poor education systems and media is quick and fleeting. Any potential challenge to those in power will be quickly eliminated and then broadcasted through media sources as this is what happens when you try to go against the system.

We should all face the reality that all it takes to become an elected official is money, coming from the right background and a good marketing campaign. Make false promises while going through the election process and once you are in there is no accountability for your actions.

I think I left the USA in order to escape this reality.  In an alcoholic haze I drifted through my first few years in Costa Rica thinking that living a Spring Break lifestyle within the borders of a new country had allowed me to escape. I did not realize until I sobered up that the same problem exist everywhere.

The problems in Costa Rica are deep and the rabbit hole of connected government officials to corruption and fraud can be seen at the highest level of government officials in CR.  You look to the shark finning occurring in the waters of Costa Rica where government officials are now being arrested for involvement.  You look at the border dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica; how Chinchilla has blown it out of proportion to instill a fear in the population and take focus off her negative presidency.  You look at the fact that local police officers are caught every day taking bribes and are involved in unethical behavior.  You see scams around every corner be it real estate fraud, lottery scams,  fake online pharmacies that have learned that the Costa Rican legal system can be beat with money.  Chorizo (payoffs) makes the world in Costa Rica revolve and those without money will never have power.

The cycle of corruption and system will not stop with the election of the next president be it Johnny Arraya in Costa Rica or Hillary Clinton in the USA…….nothing is going to change without an entire group effort for change.

So  the reality sets in that changing these entities is impossible, there are too many uneducated masses that want everything to stay the same.  There is a reason that governments do not improve education…..stupid people are easier to control. Throw in the fact going to a university costs someone upwards for $100,000 after housing, leaving you in debt and feeling that you have to start paying those loan back right away.  A prison of debt……

So with all of this crap happening around you how can one find happiness? Is it even possible especially with a good heart?

As I sit here over looking the ocean in Costa Rica all the problems of the world seem to at least for a little while seem to fade away.  The answer to the above questions is probably yes, but it is hard to find you true internal happiness until you let it all go.

You can no longer worry about what other’s think or what other people do.  Your goal should be reaching out to those that want help and not try to continue bringing light into lives that are happy in the darkness.  Life cannot be based around what you buy but what you have inside.  Life is hard, there is no doubt about that.  It is a continual battle where you have to pick yourself up each and every time you get knocked down and keep fighting. It is when you stop fighting and let the world win that the system wins as well.

So I will pack up my computer and take the mile and a half walk back home.  The sounds of the ocean waves echoing in my mind.  This is my life. These are my dreams.  I will continue fighting to find my smile and each day I am one day closer to obtaining that internal happiness and chasing my dreams that the world tries to take away.