The real wealth is always closer to home

Feb 17, 2026 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

(Kaieteur News) – Just over one week ago, Stabroek News Sunday columnist Ian McDonald wrote about what he called ‘The quiet satisfactions of life”. It was not a loud or dramatic column. There were no fiery political arguments, no grand accusations, no breaking news.

Instead, it was about gardens, birds, rivers, fruit on a plate, and the simple pleasure of being at home while the world rushed past. In today’s climate, that kind of writing almost feels rebellious.

McDonald suggested that as we grow older, the grand public dramas begin to lose their shine. The summits, the ribbon cuttings, the speeches, the political manoeuvrings — all the things that seem so important on the evening news begin to feel strangely hollow. They are noisy. They are theatrical. But they do not necessarily satisfy the heart.

What remains meaningful are the quiet satisfactions. What are these satisfactions? They are simple things, but powerful ones.

They are the sight of hummingbirds in a garden on a golden afternoon. They are the changing light as evening turns into moonlit night. They are a visit to the wind-swept banks of the great Essequibo River. They are watching a kingfisher dip into dark water and rise again in a flash of blue. They are also smaller, more intimate pleasures. A plate of ripe fruit. A rosebud in a glass vase. A comfortable bed waiting for a quiet afternoon rest. A moment of stillness while the rest of the world hurries to some grand event it will soon forget.

These are not expensive pleasures. They do not require status, position or influence. They cannot be televised. They cannot be measured in likes, shares or headlines. But they nourish something deeper inside us. And that is exactly why we need more of them.

We are living in an age of constant noise. Our phones vibrate with alerts. Social media demands attention. Political debates grow sharper… and at times nastier. Economic pressures weigh heavier. Everywhere we turn there is competition for money, for recognition, for power, for success.

Materialism has quietly become our default setting. Bigger house. Newer car. Better title. More visibility. We are encouraged to believe that satisfaction comes from acquisition. But acquisition has no finish line. The moment you reach one goal, another appears. The appetite grows faster than the contentment.

Stress follows close behind. Many people today are exhausted not from physical labour, but from mental overload. We are always “on.” Always comparing. Always striving. Always reacting. Even rest has become scheduled and optimised.

In that kind of world, quiet satisfactions are not luxuries. They are necessities. They slow us down. They restore perspective. They remind us that life is not only about achievement but about experience. When you sit in your yard and watch birds move between trees, there is no competition. When you walk along a riverbank, the water does not care about your job title. When you take time to enjoy a simple meal without distraction, you are not performing for anyone. In those moments, you are simply alive.

There is also humility in quiet satisfactions. They teach us that beauty does not depend on human power. Governments rise and fall. Political leaders come and go. Grand projects are launched with speeches and banners. But orchids bloom whether or not there is applause. Rivers flow whether or not there is a ribbon-cutting ceremony. That realisation can be liberating. It reminds us that not everything important needs to be dramatic. In fact, the most sustaining parts of life are often the least dramatic. We need more of these moments because they protect our inner balance. They create mental space. They reduce anxiety. They reconnect us to something steady and real. They also make us kinder.

A person who is constantly stressed and chasing status is rarely patient. But someone who has learned to value small daily joys tends to move more gently through the world. Quiet satisfaction breeds gratitude. Gratitude softens the spirit. This does not mean we abandon ambition or ignore public life. Society still needs leaders, builders and thinkers. But if we rely only on public achievement for happiness, we will always feel slightly empty. Public applause fades quickly. Private contentment lingers.

Perhaps that was the deeper message in McDonald’s reflection. As the years pass, we begin to see that the noise was never the point. The real wealth was always closer to home. In a country like ours, blessed with rivers, forests and extraordinary natural beauty, quiet satisfactions are not hard to find. What is harder is giving ourselves permission to value them. In a world growing louder and more materialistic by the day, choosing stillness may be one of the most radical acts we can make.

And perhaps one of the wisest.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Ian McDonald, Peeping Tom, Stabroek News, Wealth

One thought on “The real wealth is always closer to home”

Lenny Ramgulam February 17, 2026 at 10:31 am

Today’s article by Peeping Tom should be read and pondered by not only all Guyanese but by the world at large.

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