Posted by 1 of the messengers on March 13, 2015. All rights re-served.
i didn’t know about that Happy Day before. may be that’s why i was depressed. But now there’s a Hope. If UN for a whole day will talk about human international Happiness, then it means that may be we Internationally will realize that to be Happy is something that people Really want to do. (because American Dream for ex. doesn’t include Happiness or when i asked 1 of my friends what he wants to be when he will grow up (even though he’s already grown up, but not in the sense of the question) and he answered me: “to be Happy” & i thought he’s joking, because i meant something like engineer, doctor, lawyer or dishwasher; but Really, what is more important: our professional achievements or our Joy?). Everyone since their 1st day of bad mood, knows that we all want to be happy, but somehow & somewhy that’s not what our life is about. We all want to be happy, but in reality most of us doing homeworks, going to college, working, partying, arguing, watching TV or any other activities. We don’t REALLY stop and ask ourselves what actually MAKES us happy and what it ACTUALLY means to be happy.
Of course i’m not going to tell U either. Also i’m not saying don’t go to college or a job (although i wouldn’t mind to see our schools & workplaces more happier and nicer- at least on March 20, for a start). All i’m saying is that we spend most of our time doing something that we ourselves say it’s much less important than our emotional harmony, but we r doing it anyway. Of course we easily can blame our bosses, education system, government, stupid people or family (which supposed to be the happiest place for us) & we will have point. Modern urban life is hectic, stressful & time-demanding, but often even when we R alone, we remain hectic, stressful & always looking for something to do to “kill time”. This “chrono-suicide” (in some circles called “procrastination”) becomes 1 of the top 3 our life activities after job & sleep. Usually it has excellent disguise of reading news, playing games or cleaning the house, but in the end of the day we always find something better to do than for example meditation, “alone-time” or reading good book (which is when read too often could become bad, since everything in life is this or that due to its proportion). So why we prefer to “kill time”, instead of moving towards Happiness? From my personal experience the answer is: we don’t KNOW how to become Happy.
For ex. let’s see what honorable Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last year in the message for the International Day of Happiness: (http://www.un.org/en/events/happinessday/2014/sgmessage.shtml)
“Happiness may have different meanings for different people. But we can all agree that it means working to end conflict, poverty and other unfortunate conditions in which so many of our fellow human beings live.”
(Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon message for the International Day of Happiness, 20 March 2014).
Unfortunately i cannot agree with this definition. As usual i’m not going to talk about Secretary-General, what he meant & if he is right or not; i don’t see how it will make me happier. What is more important is to talk about WHAT is Happiness. His message was chosen only because it’s an official UN day, he is an official UN S-G & what he said is an official misconception about Happiness, “that it means working to end” some “unfortunate conditions”. It looks like very obvious & common sensible, but it’s not. i don’t want to pick on words, rather i would like to use the opportunity of March 20 to remind that we need to BE Happy & not to BECOME or in other words we shouldn’t wait that something will happen by us, by certain people, by God or fate & we one bright day will be Happy for the rest of our lives. We have/had billions of examples around us, showing that this is not the way towards Happiness, but nevertheless we still think of Doing something, instead of Being Someone. As usual i could chose similar message from 1 of my neighbors, but as usual authoritative person is more reliable.
As a poor, unfortunate, war-escaping person, i don’t object to end poverty, wars or whatever bad we R having on our planet. Quite the contrary: Let’s finish all the hunger $ homeliness TODAY! i heard humanity has the means to do so, we just don’t care enough. & why we don’t care? Because even rich people R not happy, so obviously, they must first to take care of themselves. i wish all the millionaires Happiness on March 20 & even whole weekend, don’t forget to donate! What i’m saying is that what honorable S-G is talking about is not Happiness, but simple Survival. Of course U cannot be happy if U R dead (although i’ve heard other stories), but there R many International “Days of Survival”, for ex.: the day after “the Happy Day” is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, on June 20 UN commemorate World Refugee Day, Sept. 21 is the Day of Peace, a week after UN tries totally to eliminate Nuclear Weapons, Oct. 2 is International Day of Non-Violence, Oct. 16 is a Food Day (is it about hunger or culinary?), day after it UN eradicates poverty, on Nov. 16 UN observes Tolerance, Nov. 19 is a Toilet Day, which is actually about sanitation & not what U (& i) were thinking; Dec. 10 is a Human Rights Day & i didn’t include many relevant days just because it’s already late & i want to sleep. There R enough (365) days in the year for every problem humanity has. That’s why on a Day of Happiness we should be concerned with Happiness & not with Peace, Poverty, Hunger & other “unfortunate conditions”, since all those conditions already have their own days.
Right now i remember only Jesus, but i’m sure every Spiritual Leader said similar thing: “People don’t live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), which obviously means that U cannot be happy just by eating, drinking, having fun, car & house. Then How We Can Be Happy? Since it’s late we R going to talk about it later (i hope by the morning i will have some ideas, meanwhile i would be happy to hear yours).
& btW: Be Happy! & U won’t worry. Happy International Day of Happiness Everybody!
MessengerS of Compassion 