What make us happy initially may eventually

What do you think makes us happy? Aquestion for everyone to determine at some point in their life. As defined inMerriam-Webster (2017), happiness is a state of well-being and contentment; apleasurable or satisfying experience. However, happiness ishard to achieve like water or smoke, it is there but it is impossible to holdin our hands. It can be as simple as being content with doing what you love, and living the life you want or by being who you want to be.

Some individualseven go as far as to follow steps on how to achieve happiness. Happiness is a sensationthat people desire to have, and sometimes desperately wishes for. Everyone hasa completely different view of happiness and how to attain it. Some Individualsrequire money, material things, solitude and for others it is companionship orhelping someone, but the list can go on. People sometimes tend judge theirhappiness based on what their career field is, what kind of car they drive, howmany square footages their home has and the area where their home is located. Ibelieve that individuals can be happy within unhappiness when we have anabsolute knowledge and understanding of what our purpose is, we stop at nothingto attain and achieve what our heats desires; true happiness. Happinessplays an important and necessary role in the lives of individuals all over theworld. Happiness has been firmly fixed in our consciousness since ThomasJefferson wrote these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “ We holdthese truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they areendowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these areLife, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson).

Since then, Americanshave been trying to seek the notion of pursuing happiness. The problem is however, as Lindsay Van Thoen demonstrates in her article, the happiness paradox: wanting to be happy may make you unhappy, studies find, is that the very same thingswhich make us happy initially may eventually lead to our unhappiness. Byexamining Theon article more we learn that when trying to find happiness, wesometimes end up not pursuing happiness in the right way. Growingup I always thought that being happy meant migrating to American, owning a bighouse with nice cars, a boat maybe, a dog or two, making lots of money, having acouple kids and marry the man of my dreams. Seems amazing, right? Beingyounger, I based my happiness on how many nice things I would get for mybirthday, or how many time I get to eat ice-cream in a week.

Like what DarrenHardy recounts in the pursuit of happiness, our beliefs on what makes us happy ismajorly influenced by other people and other people’s things. Pathetic to thinkthat I gauged my happiness on the material things I received as a child. Itseems like these days, society and social media seem to define happiness ashaving either a lot of money, or having a lot of extravagant things.

Individuals label happiness as a goal to achieve instead of a feeling. Instead tryingto attain “ the pursuit of happiness”; we should entertain the idea of pursuingfulfillment within one’s self to find the significance of what our purpose is, stated by Hardy. This is where many people experience unhappiness within happiness. The Declaration of Independence states that one of our unalienable rights’ isto be happy in life. Which is true, yes, we all strive to be happy in our lifebut do we really think about what happiness really means to us in a realisticway? With Society now and social media, has a twisted definition of what itmeans to be truly happy. In our endless struggle for more money, more love andmore security, we have forgotten the most fundamental fact: happiness is notcaused by possessions or social positions, and can in fact be experienced inany daily activity. We have made happiness a utopia: which is high priced, complexed, and unreachable. Inthe film, Modern Times 1936, it showed the devastation that the GreatDepression made during this time; unemployment, poverty and hunger.

LittleTramp (Charlie Chaplin) employed at a state-of-the-art factory where theinescapable machinery totally overwhelms him, and where various mishaps keep landinghim in prison. In between his numerous jail stints, he meets and befriends anorphan girl (Paulette Goddard). Both together and apart, they try to be contentwith the difficulties of modern life, with the Tramp working as a waiter andeventually a performer.

Their desire to change their life heightened the needto pursuit their happiness even greater. Living during the depression andseeing everyone’s face will manifest unhappiness but with the help and strengthfrom a friend will make the task of finding happiness easier according to Kennedyin A Point of View: The pursuit of happiness. Inthe film, it’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey was a young man, living in asmall town, but with big dreams. He wanted to travel the world and getaway from his small town and accomplish these dreams he sets for himself.

However, he inherited the loan business from his father and he gave uptraveling the world and going to a University. As he ages, his youth, dreamsand opportunities passed him by. He married his beloved Mary Hatch Bailey and had fourchildren with her and his life was anything but easy.

When a financialdiscrepancy puts George in a difficult position, he believes he worth more deadthan alive, decides to commit suicide. An angel who has not earned his wings comesto show him what life would have been like if he had never been born. Thingschange immediately, Everyone around him was not the same anymore, without him, George realized that everyone’s happiness somehow depends on him. In thatmoment, he realized that he does not want to be gone from the world and thatwhatever awaited him, he is strong enough and will overcome anything he will befaced with. Hardy also stated that, one way to feel happy is think about whatyou must be grateful for and sometimes making someone else happy, you can behappy as well. He had the love from his wife and children, family andespecially all his neighbors. With them he could transform his unhappiness intohappiness. Inthe film The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner a salesman from San Francisco, California had great dreams for his family but his plans did not work out as heintended.

However, Christopher Gardner continued to strive and take a chance tochase his happiness even if it took losing his wife, his home and everything hehold dearly to him. The more difficult it got for Chris and his son, the morehe fought harder, Chris tried and tried until he could achieve everything hehoped for amid misery. In one scene when Chris is playing basketball with hisson, he says he never made it as a basketball player and his son wouldn’t makeit either. And just immediately after, he tells the kid, “ Don’t ever letsomeone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me.” People can’t dosomething themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. You wantsomething? Go get it. That is what Chris does, he goes out every day, until he was able to land a stop that took him to the top.

Not only does thisscene showed people that they should focus on the strength of trying despitetheir failures but it also depicts the love that parents have for theirchildren can directly make an impact. This scene especially shows that whatparents say and do can have a direct effect on the children. Amajor escape for everyone through and difficult times are songs, films and literary works.

During the depression singers like Jay Gorney, Ray Henderson and Harry Warrenkept hope alive through their lyrics, according to Songs of the GreatDepression. In the article, How Pharrell Williams captured the essence ofhappiness by Gibsone, describe that listening to music is inviting, it remindsthem of a different era, that they can relate to which were happier times. Shirley temple was also beaconof happiness to everyone during the Great Depression. She brought happiness topeople homes and lives, gave them some hope and brought them out of despair ifonly for a bit. Through the film from unit 5, I havelearned that with the help or others, your spirits can lift tremendously. Inthe pursuit of happyness, what gave Chris Gardner the strength to carry on andto accomplish his dreams, was his son.

He made sure everything he did, his sonwould benefit, gain and learn from him. Gender issues impacted the happinesslevels of men and women in both similar and different ways. According to theChoice Reading CMT, both men and women suffered during the depression withunemployment which led to unhappiness in their household. With the start ofWorld War 2, women’s role took a major turn for the better, but to men theworse. Women were now forced to seek jobs to care for their family, while theirmen went off to war. In the article Changing Gender Roles, by the 1940’s, womenfilled the jobs of men and majorly became the breadwinners. Men believed thatwomen should return to their proper place but at the same time, they relied, could not and did not help their wives. However, during the holocaust, both menand women suffered severely.

Gender issues were not a propriety, stated inChoice Reading CMT, women were treated just as harshly, whether they werepregnant or not. Man’s ability to achievehappiness during difficulties has not changed much over the years as shown inthe films which span over seventy years (Modern Times-1936, It’s a WonderfulLife-1946, The Pursuit of Happyness-2006). The films show how everyoneapproaches their happiness through their own experiences and trials. Everyoneis different and how we approach everything will be different. In all thefilms, we see the characters go through extreme situations trying to be happybut never giving up hope that their lives will change for the better. Throughout my 28years, I have learned that happiness is not such an unreachable dream. Thoughit varies from one person to another, happiness is often only an arm’s length away. From the characters, we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritualhappiness can drastically affect our lives.

Some individuals will experiencehappiness in the pursuit of it. Some will find it in sacrificing themselves forbetter goals. Others will find it in people’s companion, in lust, in drugs/alcoholand material possessions. There is no technique to achieve happiness, and it isonly up to us to define what we want from life, and how we want to attain it. The only certain thing is that it is never too late for anybody to achievetheir dreams, be who you are, buy all your hearts desires and ultimately, be trulyhappy.