Key to happiness? Look again
Perhaps more so than beauty, joy is in the eye of the beholder.
Our governor declared this week "Clown Week." I've seen him keep his spirits up when the chips are down; Butch Otter knows the value of a laugh.
Happiness isn't a set of circumstances, the achievement of a goal, or having enough friends. Some would say it isn't even great health or a good marriage, that one can be happy without these things, although they can make it easier. Happiness is all about the moment, and the moment may be the one thing over which each of us always has control.
You know the types. One person seems to smile without a reason, or focuses on the full half of the glass, even when to others, the empty part is glaring. Another person complains often, can't be cheered up or enjoy a moment, because of a laundry list of oft-repeated problems.
A young, dying mother makes a point of laughing regularly and remarks upon the pleasure of birds chirping. A man with a good job, secure home, and people who love him talks of the failure his life has become, because he has neither riches nor girlfriend. She with strong reason to cry finds happiness each day. He who has blessings others desperately lack laments woefully.
When I was 8, I had a life-altering experience. My father's company was building a refinery in the Persian desert. We lived in the big city with every convenience, but to reach his construction site for a visit, we had to travel by train, helicopter (donkey, another story) and finally, a Jeep ride through a tiny village.
The people lived in clay-like hogans, with doors and windows cut out and only cloth or scrap metal and wood for doors. Children were barefoot and some hardly clothed in their rags. They flocked to our slow-moving vehicle and tapped on it, peering at us like museum exhibits, babbling and pointing at us. Our driver said they'd never seen a car.
I noticed something else: no plumbing. No pipes or faucets, no electrical wires. I considered for days after what this meant to their lives, and how mine compared. No air conditioning, no showers or hot water, no family TV night, no closet full of clothes or bedding with that fresh laundry smell.
Ever since, every shower I take, I think of people who can't. One of my favorite of life's endless pleasures is feeling that soothing patter of hot water after a long day. When I make the bed with fresh sheets, I think of them again and feel lucky. Anything else I have - more food than I need, choices of leisure activities, a friend, a healthy child - is a step further up the ladder of luxury.
Happiness is one more day to enjoy a hot shower. If you let it.
Sholeh Patrick is a columnist with the Hagadone News Network. Email [email protected]