Baby giggles. Popsicles. Lazy summer days. Sleep. Tractors. Cows. Money. Family. Puppies. Food.
Nope.
Those things help, but they aren't the secret.
We have become a very unhappy people. We are mad at the world. Nothing is going right. We don't have the job we want, the car we want, the house we want, the person we want, the life we want.
We are sad and kinda pathetic. We have too many choices.
Wal-Mart is out of my favorite chips. A rock hit my windshield. Joe got the promotion I wanted. Susie is married and I am not. Frank's car is nicer than mine. Amy has a clean house and I don't. That heifer has it all together.
We have learned to compare ourselves to everyone else.
During the Depression they were happy to have the sugar, flour, coffee, shoes, and other necessities. It doesn't fit just right? That's ok! It'll work or I'll out grow it or grow into it. I'm sorry...you wanted steak and a baked potato? Beans and taters will have to do for tonight. And that was ok. Because they didn't have choices. They didn't have the big decisions or the luxury of keeping up with the Jones'. They were happy to survive and be able to feed the kids. They were happy when they got a little more than they did last week. They were happy that nobody starved.
I'm not saying it was a happy time. It was called the DEPRESSION for Pete's sake. They didn't party it up, but the appreciated what they had. They were THANKFUL for anything and everything they had.
Today we see people spending time and money trying to tear down industries because they don't agree with their methods. You see activists trying to end animal agriculture, the GMO debate, shut down coal, no oil drilling. People are no longer thankful because they are no longer starved. I'm not saying we need to starve the nation.....but they are doing a pretty dang good job of getting there.
We have no idea what it is like to be hungry. The people running the country and the people making the phone calls and the people pulling the strings are full and power happy.
I can go into a whole rant on "industrial" agriculture and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and I probably will before I quit blogging, but this isn't that post. We are lucky to be fed. We are lucky that we have the choices. We are lucky to have the freedom.
Here's the thing...we have so much freedom that we are well on our way to losing it. One person gets the idea that eating meat is animal cruelty and it dominoes into some activist groups that lie about their agendas and make millions upon millions to take away someone else's right...freedom...to eat meat. One person decides that they don't like GMO crops...they start ignoring science and throwing fear and lies around and we have marches against Monsanto. (Let me just say....there are countries in this world that are begging for GMO crops...those crops can feed so many starving people...it can bring wealth to those who are in poverty. I won't go into it, but if you would like to know how or why please ask.) One person says that a random bat/fish/bird/animal "may" become extinct if we drill for oil (that could relieve some of our dependence) and the right...freedom...to do so is taken away. I could literally go on and on.
I'm not saying that everyone should be able to do anything that they so desire, but we are taking freedoms and rights just because someone has the freedom and the power to take it.
There should be rules. There should be priorities. There should be COMMON SENSE.
People are not hungry. So they are finding other areas to be miserable. And to make other people miserable.
The key to happiness isn't taking someone else's happiness. The key to happiness isn't having enough power to take from someone. The key to happiness isn't getting everything you want.
The key to happiness...true happiness....is to choose it. It really isn't a secret at all.
It isn't necessary to compare yourself to another person. It isn't necessary to feel better because someone else has it worse.
It IS necessary to realize that we aren't hungry. We still have freedoms (though they seem fleeting.) We have every ingredient to be happy, we just have to mix it up and choose to live it.
We are facing an ever changing world. It is fast paced and crazy. What is here today is gone tomorrow and getting it faster is always better. We have choices like no other decade before us, and for some reason we are about the most miserable bunch of people the world has ever seen. But of all the choices we have we are always screwing this one up.
Choose. To. Be. Thankful.
Choose. To. Be. Kind.
Choose. To. Be. Helpful.
Choose. To. Be. Happy.
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