Yes! I am the richest woman but the unhappiest....

Here lies an eventful story which proved beyond doubt that wealth, whatever the amount one holds, cannot by itself be the basis for the achievement of real happiness! Here is the story which for years dominated the minds of writers, reporters and newsmen, as well as the pages of newspapers, books and magazines! This is the story of Christina Onassis daughter of the famous Greek tycoon, Aristotle Onassis who owned fleets of ships and aeroplanes, lakes and islands, real estates, huge bank deposits, etc. Following the death of her father, Christina was the only one left behind as the legal heiress to the vast resources of her father besides her late father's second wife Jacqueline Kennedy. The enormous liquid inheritances were to the tune of billions of dollars besides the immovable properties, the fleet of ships and aeroplanes, lakes and islands, real estates, large bank deposits, etc 'What an inheritance that was! Certainly, to the judgment, reasoning, feelings and standards of most people, someone inheriting such a huge fortune should be the happiest person on earth but was this true for Christina? The answer to this question can only be arrived at after going through the following pages which briefly explain the known course of her life. 

            Christina got married to an American during her father's lifetime; but only a few months thereafter the marriage broke up and ended up in divorce. After the death of her father, she got married to a Greek for the second time but their marriage lasted only a few months, if not weeks, before it was all over! 

            Christina stayed out of marriage for quite some time apparently looking for a happy life outside the marriage bond. However, that happiness did not materialize and, after a few years had elapsed, she felt like flying to find a life of happiness under the marriage bond once again. This time her choice for a husband was from a completely different camp from communist Russia! To many who knew her free style western life, this step, indeed, became an interesting, if not perturbing or excruciating experience. And when once asked by a pressman of this move, she had a ready answer which was simple, short, but frank: "I am searching for happiness". 

            Of course, her two previous marriages were with men from the West; and since they both failed, she thought that she could "discover" some happiness in the East. But here too she was only trying out her luck with no guarantees. When pressmen interviewed her for a second time her unchanged reply was: "I am searching for happiness..!" 

            But was she really happy about her marriage in Russia? Never! She hardly remained with the Russian for more than a year before she eventually divorced him! 

            Apparently, that was not the end of the marriage "dilemma". Back in Europe she decided to give it one more final try this time with a French industrialist, the fourth husband from a fourth different country in hardly a period of two years! What a miserable and unsecured life it has been. It was during one of those occasions at a party relating to this last marriage that a pressman asked her whether she was the richest woman and her frank reply went as follows: Yes! I am the richest woman but the unhappiest.... 

            The marriage with the French industrialist went ahead as planned but it took only a few months to exist before it was all gone! 

            Having failed to achieve happiness under marriage life, Christina vowed not to marry again and endeavored to achieve happiness "on her own". However, happiness was impossible for her even on her own and she spent the rest of her life in a desperate manner full of frustrations and disappointments and of frenzy travels between the world's major cities until, finally, she was found lying dead inside a hotel in Argentina. Who killed her? She committed suicide! What an unhappy ending for a very, very wealthy lady!

            Was her wealth able to buy her happiness? 

            NEVER, INDEED!!!!!!!

Source:The Way To Happiness 
Based on:  "Happiness Between Illusion And Reality" By Dr. Nasser Al-Omar And "Causes Of Happiness" By Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sa'adi. 

Note: Wealth and poverty, by Islamic standards, have nothing to do with material possessions, they are based on contentment and discontent. If you are content with what you have been blessed with, you are wealthy. This is because wealth is not the possession of abundance; wealth is freedom from need.

(From: Treatise For The Seekers of Guidance)