The Pursuit Of Happiness
Our founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The theologian and mathematician Blaise Pascal has observed that, ” all men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.”
What is this happiness? How does one achieve it? The Oxford Dictionary defines happiness as ” pleasure, delight, enjoyment, joy, gladness, high spirits.”
What produces these sensations?
Society has attempted to answer this, or at least to side-step it, through activity. Pascal says ” Men are entrusted from infancy with the care of their honor, their property, their friends . . . They are overwhelmed with business, with the study of languages, and with physical exercise; and they are made to understand that they cannot be happy unless their health, their honor, their fortune . . . be in good condition, and that a single thing wanting will make them unhappy. Thus they are given cares and business which make them bustle about from break of day. — It is, you will exclaim, a strange way to make them happy!” The distractions he refers to can often fill our lives to the point that we forget who and what we are and what we are about. I urge everyone here to take a moment and think about what distracts you. Is it business? Is it appearance? Is it achieving more?
Adolescence is generally considered a fairly trying time of life. It lands between childhood and adulthood; resulting in a person unsure of their age and identity. Vigorous attempts to resolve these feelings often result in distraction in looking for happiness. Happiness and the search for it motivates our actions; at times causing us to engage in bizarre behavior. Happiness is often equated with success; if one is successful, one must be happy. The pressure in high school to excel in many areas stems from the idea that this will create happiness, directly or indirectly; immediately or in the future.
One of the benefits of adolescence is the opportunity to experience new activities; however, these can be overwhelming, especially if the motivation behind participation is lost in the bustle of achievement.
We have reached a turning point in our lives, and now we are supposed to strike boldly out on the exhilarating and life-affirming path to success. There are certain things we must do to find this success, and if this success is not found, happiness will not be achieved.
What is really important? What is success? Is it having the most expensive car or being content without it? Is it winning every athletic trophy possible or enjoying the sport and learning from it? Is it going to an impressive college, studying hard, and maintaining an illustrious career the rest of your life or forming relationships and serving others? Life is not about a list of successes. It’s about experiences and relationships and learning.
People who are engaged in life and find value in their existence are able to realize contentment, and so doing, happiness. Serving others, pleasures found in the simple things like loud laughter or a warm and comfortable sweatshirt, and loving God are all occasions of happiness. Stop for a moment and think about when you are happy. Is it in playing music? In prayer? In squirting whipped cream directly into your mouth? I remember when I was younger playing a game called ‘Deserted Island’ with my brother and sister and grandmother. We were hiding on an island from the bad guys. To survive, we made ovens out of bricks and cooked fish on them. We slept in trees and sometimes climbed to the tops to watch for the bad guys’ ship approaching to find us. If this happened, we hid in the barn where apparently they never thought to look. This game, though possibly silly as I think about it now, was always a happy moment.
To reiterate what Pascal has wisely observed, ” All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end… The will never takes the least step without this object . . . And yet after such a great number of years, no one without faith has reached the point to which all continually look.” Ladies and gentlemen, fellow graduates, I beseech all of you to look: ” seek, and ye shall find.”
(info from http://rockland.villagesoup.com/Education/story.cfm?storyID=56389)