I read a New York Times article that delve into happiness. It’s not just something obscure or esoteric, but something tangible that gives all of us a feeling of importance. But then the question remains, what is happiness?
I read the article, and it was engrossing to say the least about how mankind has tried to define what it means to be happy. From philosophical to pragmatic to mathematical, and to marketing catch phrases, we all have sought to define what it means to be happy.
In a Harvard study also published by the New York Times, happiness is defined as a long life well lived surrounded by family and friends. There was even a graph made that measures happiness on a holistic world view from many different countries from around the world that made these conclusions of how people see their personal level of happiness.
The one thing I am wondering is how does one measure happiness on a scale? What factors are involved in such a statistical study of this nature? I guess if one’s personal wealth and social status are measurements, then people that are wealthy should be incredibly happy, yet how many people that are genuinely happy?
I don’t know any rich people, happy or otherwise, growing up in lower middle-class family that struggled to make ends meet. For us happiness was being well fed, being with our family and hanging out with friends. Being rich wasn’t an attainable goal. The goal was just to have a nice job to have and buy my own home—live out the American dream.
Happiness is as tangible as the nearest friendship, the next family reunion or homecoming game at Washington State University, my alma mater. I wouldn’t know how to live with myself were I was so rich that I could buy anyone or anything without worry. I am quite happy with a life well lived.
Jerry Schellhammer 