the grass is always greener on the other side

Thought about this a while back while reading about the ongoing argument over the paycheck of ministers in Singapore. The Minister Mentor said that high pay was so as to lure people from the private sector who were drawing large salaries away into the public sector to benefit Singapore with a salary that is somewhat comparable (he noted they still do make losses) I doubt my post will have a political stand given my political apathy as a Singaporean youth, it should just be about that little line that is the title of this post.

The grass is greener on the other side, but more often than not, its cause you've been eating away at the grass on your side. It isn't because of any psychological reasons or cause of influence or rumors or defect in vision but simply because this side has you, and the other side doesnt. I'm not saying that when you consider making a change, you've been leeching off your current position, but simply that the forces that give you the impulse to move on were created from the drain in pleasure you derive from the side you're on.

In this way, why would people move from the private sector into the public sector when the pay is higher in the former? It is necessary to consider that the world doesnt revolve totally around money and that people have other needs- fame, conscience, popularity, sex, just to name a few. These people may have moved because they felt that the extra publicity, the extra impact on the world that they can make, the extra number of years that they will be remembered is worth the couple million that they lose. After all given the economic rule of falling marginal utility (or whatever) when you've already got alot of money, what more pleasure can a couple million give? Another car? Another house? You can't be in two places at the same time.

Lets say they want fame, then they've felt they can't get much more popular than they already are being, lets say, a doctor. After all how famous can you get, being a totally splendid doctor? What, the whole of Toa Payoh knows you? With a few Ang Mohs who know your name? That doesn't really compare to having millions read about you visiting their country whenever you make a housecall to your pal the minister of wherever.

Now lets say its sex you want. (i'm speaking here from a male point of view) How many chicks do you thin you can lay being a lawyer? Lets say you screw the vulnerable, attractive ones that ought to exist somewhere in your workplace. Then think of the rest of the people you meet in your job, they usually tend to be either sternly professional and clean (colleagues) or psychotic (clients) Then think about being a political bigwig, like say...Bill Clinton. You get the thrill of making out with interns (young and eager) and whoever else comes your way and theres even the extra spice from the risk of getting caught rolling around the meeting room. Truly exciting for those high libido fellows.

Theres a limit to the pleasures/benefits you can derive from any place and in different amounts for different aspects so theres always someplace else that offers more in one way or another for something you've already maximised given your limits. There is no such thing as a perfect pasture where the green-ness of the grass is perfect in all ways, so its up to each of us to find that pasture that gives us just the right touch of our needs, the ability to sate as many of our desires as possible. So go ahead, job-hop, look out for better schools, look out for better friends, try a new eating place, a new clinic, brothel, whatever.

Just remember:

you can never get the best of all worlds.