On Happiness

“Knowledge is the surest basis of public happiness,” George Washington had said several hundred years ago. Is it now, though? Some parents and people say that “if you work hard now studying school, you will be happier later.” How truthful is it, are the people who study happier later in life? If I am the smartest man in the world, am I the happiest? Or if I am the total opposite, am I the saddest? Who would I be without knowledge?

On one hand, if you figure that smarter people usually have more money, and if you think that money is happiness, then the saying is true for you. A smart person would be the doctor, not the hamburger flipper. Or they might be a judge, but not a salesman. Of course, you better be a saver if you are that doctor or judge, not an outright spender – in that case money is not happiness. Who would I be without money?

What if you believe that family, friends, and faith are happiness? Then this saying is not quite true, because if you are a poor servant with a spouse and five children, you will be happier then a judge without a spouse or children. You would also be happier as an orphan if you have lots of people as friends then if you were a CEO whom everyone dislikes. If you were a Christian servant, you would thus be happier then an atheist king. Who would I be without family, friends, and faith?

Then there is another group that believes that true happiness is not found anywhere on this rock that is speeding through space with us on it – or any other rock, at that. This group believes that only God will give us true happiness. That only joy can be found in the following life we will have in eternal heaven – or for some, the un-happiness in the upcoming hell. They believe that joy prepares us people for true happiness. Who would I be without God?

Now, if I were to break down these views and answer the ending questions, what would I find? I find that a person without money and/or knowledge has a higher chance of living a truly active life of hard work, which is good for the body, mind, and soul, as Paul has himself said in the Bible. Someone without family, friends, and faith is alone and has no one to help him through his or her walk through life – these people are prey to evil desires. As for someone without God, (s)he would not be, because he created us. So, what is happiness? It seems like family, friends and faith are, and God is, due to his creating it, being good in nature himself.

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