Are You Happy? 
by Ron R. Lacson

There was this documentary program on TV where they were showing grief-stricken poor people, recently devastated by a strong storm, their meager possessions placed in medium-sized rusty cans and tattered baskets. They waited for help. When the relief truck arrived, the boys, girls, and adults headed fast towards it to get the things which they knew could be used for their deliverance.

The next scene showed a ragged and shabby boy being handed a new baseball cap by a uniformed man from the truck.  When the camera focused on the boy’s face, it gave the sight of genuine and complete happiness.  It was an authentic joy.  That look on his face is something I will never forget.

When was the last time any of us experienced that kind of happiness? Was it when we got our first job?  Our first chat with our sweetheart?  Our first kiss?  Our first child (if we are parents)?  When we finished and graduated from our school course? When we first traveled (via plane)? Was it during a time when we helped a needy person? Or was it when we received the help we desperately needed? Did we ever experience that pure joy?  Or have we just forgotten and we can’t remember when?

The truth is we all have experienced utter happiness at some point in our lives, and they’re inside us waiting to be remembered.  Our sense of willingness to dig these experiences from the compartment of our memories can spell the difference between merriment and gloom. 

A few years ago, I watched the movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ (the incorrect spelling of happiness was intentional) starring Will Smith, and I knew then that it was a good movie.  

A week ago, I watched it again (via DVD), and I realized it wasn’t just good but was actually great and very meaningful.  The film conveyed a message that life is a journey with the continuous pursuit of happiness, a sustained calling to discover our inner self, and on how we could maintain sanity amid troubles and problems in our lives, a perpetual desire for pure joy and an absolute delight.

We continue to pursue happiness not because we are not happy, but because we truly understand what happiness means. Happiness is something special.  Happiness is what happens to us when we feel elated and jubilant. 

Our appreciation of happiness may not change, but it comes in many forms and sizes.  Happiness may suddenly arrive when we see other people becoming happy as a result of an extraordinary thing we’ve done for them. Happiness may also land in our lap because we just experienced something that touched our emotions or when we received something we’ve longed for.

I am not talking about those things that can make us excited just for 5 minutes and then fade away.  I am referring to the genuine happiness that lasts for a long time and creates memories that enable us to continue the pursuit of happiness because we understand it.

Happiness stays inside us and cannot be taken away; it dwells in our mind; it lives in our memory; we have to remember it when we want to be happy.  It is what we remember that makes us happy.

So when someone asks us again, ‘Are you happy?’ The honest response is, ‘Yes, I have happiness inside me, and I can get it and feel it whenever I want, but I am also continuing the pursuit of happiness because life is a never-ending challenge.’

These challenging times, amid the pandemic, we can decide to be happy by visiting our memory lane and be cognitive of the happiness we felt before;  be aware again of what was and is making us happy, and let’s use them to deploy happiness around us.  
.

So are you happy?  Oh, I bet you can be!
Stay healthy. Stay safe.

🙏😊