Whence Comes Happiness?
A story:A school teacher gave a balloon to every student, who had to inflate it, write their name on it and throw it in the hallway. The professor then mixed all the balloons. The students were then given 5 minutes to find their own balloon.
Despite a hectic search, no one found their balloon.
At that point, the teacher told the students to take the first balloon that they found and hand it to the person whose name was written on it. Within 5 minutes, everyone had their own balloon.
The professor said to the students: “These balloons are like happiness. We will never find it if everyone is looking for their own. But if we care about other people’s happiness, we’ll find ours too.”
Did this actually happen?
Does it matter?
One of the most universal human experiences is that, when we learn that it’s possible to shed the thin veneer of material acquisition and begin to look at our lives with a grander vision, we realize that we take away true happiness in proportion to the relief and joy that we bring to others.
So sad it is that American society keeps slipping further away from this truth. How quick we are to make the billionaires richer and drive the poor and desperate into even greater depths of misery.
