When everything around you is pitch black, even a dim dynamo light was enough to guide the bicycle. In today’s world of focused high intensity neon lights, even the most luminous headlight is insufficient for the vehicle.
Similarly, when a person’s resources are limited, he finds joy in small things. As the commodity grows in value, so does his standard of satisfaction.
However, it is incorrect to assume that the poor or someone far below your level of success is deeply unhappy and living a miserable life. Nobody can escape from happiness. It transforms from one form to another.
Sadness arises from comparison. As Montesquieu said this 300 years ago,
“If you only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.”