The pursuit of Happiness?

Do people today really pursue happiness? I don't think so. I think that, like love, people pursue what they THINK happiness is, and, therefore, never really achieve it. That applies to our personal lives more than anything else. (It also applies professionally as well, but that's another blog.)

So what is happiness? Well, I'm going to start with the authority, Mr. Webster. No, not Emmanuel Lewis, I'm talking about the guy who published the first dictionary. I digress.

In any case, if you look up "happiness," this is what you may find:

1.	the quality or state of being happy.

2.	good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.

I think most people that I come into contact with hold to the first definition, and possibly part of the second; the contentment part. Where people go wrong, though, is thinking that happiness means that state of being is going to be there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's just wrong.

No one is perfectly happy 24/7, 365. To think that is even possible is absurd, and most people would agree, but it seems to be what a lot of people seem to want. People, at least in this country always want something else, something more, that "one more thing." If I just had _____________, I'd be happy.

I've come to realize that there is always something else. Human nature is to never be satisfied... to always want something else, something more. A better car, a better job, more money, more time, another child, bigger boobs or biceps. Everyone is after that "one thing" and THEN they will be "happy."

I think that in all of my nearly 35 years now, I am starting to realize that happiness is not external. It does not pertain to my significant other, my family, my friends, or any of my pursuits. It pertains to the way I see the world and myself. It is a choice, or maybe it's a determination. But it is either erroded or fortified with every challenge I face. THAT is my choice though.

A few years back I took a photographic assignment that found me in Honduras for 5 days in May. I was in the mountains which border Niceragua on the south-western side. The people who lived there, in the remote villages we visited, were very poor. So much so, that I told many people upon returning that my definition of the words "poverty" and "need" were forever changed. Back to the story.

The houses most of these people lived in were not built as well as dilapidated storage sheds are in rural America. They were crudely constructed shelters with one room, many times, and may have had up to a dozen people sleeping on the dirt floors. The people worked hard for pennies a day, and walked miles in some cases to access river water that they used to drink and cook with. And it wasn't very clean either.

You know what though? You could see in their eyes that they were happier than most Americans. You could see contentment and warm smiles. Of course there was pain when one of them walked 10 miles to bring a sick child to the only medical clinic within a 50 mile radius. But as a general rule, they were happy people.

As they slept in shacks and dressed in rags, they were happy. (See the picture above of one of the kids that followed me around one of the villages we visited.) As they worked 12 hours a day for pennies, they were happy. As they walked for miles to get water and lived without any of our modern luxuries, they were happy. What do you think they knew that we didn't?

They obviously knew that contentment and happiness had nothing to do with stuff or money or getting that "one thing." We would do well to take a lesson from them, realize how fortunate we are and enjoy life a little. There will always be "one more thing." Decide that life will go on. Maybe you should still pursue that thing. Maybe you shouldn't, but, life will go on in spite of it. I aim to enjoy my life in the meantime, and remind myself that life will happen. When it does, my happiness is in how I handle those happenings. ;)

M!ke D

For more pictures from my trip to Honduras, visit my MySpace photo album on the subject.