"Money, Success, and the Pursuit of Happiness"

By: Darlina Marie Magallanes

I am a writer, an entertainer, a poet, a dancer, a story teller, an actress…
YES my friends, PERFORMING is what I do very best.
I’m not meant to be a lawyer, or a doctor, a technician, or a chef.
I’m not meant to go to school to mathematically solve and dissolve the alignment of the galaxy with a protractor and a calendar.
NO.
I am good at keeping your EYES ON ME
And I’m not even THAT good looking.
My best friend is the page and my lover is the stage.
When it comes to the “fabulous stick” I’VE BEEN STRUCK!
….
But it sucks because I’ve got a lot more star quality than most of these commercialized bucks.
But they’re still rich, and I’m still broke as fuck.
It’s not really based on talent now a days, it’s all about luck.
Now I’m stuck trying to figure out what to do with myself.

Life’s rough when you aren’t blessed with flawless looks or enough money for a college degree.
I’m in debt up to my chin and I haven’t even started a family.
It’s really hard to stay focused when there’s so much you want to achieve.
So most of us are forced to settle desperately for mediocre professions that we’d never thought we’d be.
Expenses suffocate so much we can hardly even breathe.
Our judgment is so clouded we can not clearly see.
We have to constantly remind ourselves to be thankful for our houses, the food we eat, and our minor luxuries.
I guess the human’s main flaw is that we’re never happy.
It doesn’t help to watch the wealthy on TV
Spending what we make in one lifetime,
In one day on ridiculously extravagant things.

So we buy tickets to the lottery
Hopefully scratching scratch offs with the only change we have in our pockets.
Because we have to believe right?

We have to believe
We have to believe

That money isn’t the best thing in life,
No, those things are supposed to be free.
But it still costs something to take your loved ones out to dinner and a movie.
The best things in life are free but why is it so expensive for our basic necessities?
What good is love when you’re starving?
What good is a walk in the park if you don’t have shoes?
How good can sleep be if there is no warm bed to dream in?
If homeless people are hungry everyday then why are their canned food drives only on the Holidays?

We have to believe
We have to believe

So we go to church and pray.
God is good, God is great…
But why is God only okay to one person and so much better to me?
No doubt I am thankful,
And I do know that I am truly blessed.
But there are so many people with worlds of talent and no chance at success.
I just want to know if inner peace lies within settling or not settling for less.
My whole life I’ve strived to be the best
In anything I do.
To excel at any test.
But I guess when it comes to life I’ve got a “C.”
Not exactly the top of my class, but still passing.
I just want to be something before I die.
Because the last time I close my eyes I can’t take it all with me right?

We have to believe
We have to believe
I HAVE TO BELIEVE.