the grenade and the missing safety pin

here's something that might as well arise from the dead, because people act like its nonexistent.

everyone has their own idea on what being happy is. some people act like they know what happiness is, and everyone tries to force you to accept their narrow minded version of this belief.

lets resurrect something tonight. i am not forcing anything on anyone. this is simply my opinion for you to take or reject.

there are three basic groups that i can see right off the top of my head.

group #1
there are those who make up the majority. these are the people that are pressured by their parents, society, the media (yes journalists too), and everything else that they know to strive for success. success is never really defined during this time. it is implied that being successful means obtaining upper class citizen status. by doing this, hard work is required. struggling competition for the highest class gpa, those who do the most extracurricular work, those who join the most school clubs, bachelors degree, master degree, doctorate degree, those who follow an ideology exactly without any deviation, that ideology being the "american dream". the journey to this "american dream" seems to be the least bit happy. i know people on this route and they are depressed. monster lcd hdtv's, first class seating on jumbo jets, multi-million dollar homes, a breathtaking automobile, etc.. this is their goal. to understand that you fit in such a status, means that you should be able to have all of those things and more. how is that done? hard work, lots of hard work. the word happy is broad and never really explained during this whole time. people just follow this mindless path and expect happiness to rain upon them in the form of luxuries. they believe this hard depressing journey of work will be paid off one day by luxuries that will bring them happiness. the media and society makes having excessive wealth seem sononymous with happiness. ask these people if they are happy. ask them if their luxuries make them happy. they are either clever liars or regrettfully honest. something always seems to be lacking from their lives. where is the happiness? i did all this stuff, all this work, i busted my ass when my joe blow roomate was smoking weed and partying every night. now all i have is this shiny mercedes and monster house. i have a job that i hate. a job that i chose based on wealth, because i knew that if anyone could do it, i could do it with hard work, and that would be me on that yacht someday. where is my happiness?

do schools ever ask young children throughout their years in school what will and currently makes them happy? not really. but some actually do. some of them encourage you to do what makes you happy. even if it is getting that lower paying liberal arts career. that brings us to the next group.

groups #2
yes, the rise of the creative thinkers. the right brainers. the people who can get all the fancy jobs, but choose not to because they have been made to believe that choosing the right career will make them happy, and what a shame it would be to choose the wrong career. some do choose "fancy" jobs if that happens to truly be their passion. they pursue the magical career that will put that happy smile on their face. this is a minority group compared to the large majority chasing yale, harvard, and other universities as if they lost their balls and they must be accepted by these prestigious universities to reclaim what was lost. this growing minority of people stress that doing what you love is the best. its the ticket to happiness. or so they make it seem. they say if you pick a career for ulterior reasons other than pure happiness, that you will not be satisfied and ultimately depressed throughout life. "oh the dread of going to a job you don't love for 40 hours a week!!" they harp on and on. and so on to their "happy" jobs they march every day and seem to be doing alright. happiness they call it. but you say this sounds legit. you are doing something that you love everyday, how can anything possibly ruin the happiness? they are happy, yes, to a degree. maybe they are happy. maybe they are just content with their job. content that they did something other than the majority and so they feel special that they found this minority path that caters to a different type of culture that is now emerging. maybe, maybe, maybe. thats not the point. many think this is the end of the road. the final solution. either you are mainstream following the "american dream" for monetary and self power reasons or you are doing what you "love", making considerably less money, but are supposedly way happier. that seems to be the end of the road. you can always dig deeper. as deep as ones imagination allows, and unfortunately not all imaginations know how to dig.

the simple is said to be the most overlooked. some people only see yin and yang. right or wrong. sided with the majority or sided with the minority. lets dig deeper and forget about norms, rules, values, ideas and all that other stuff that imagination doesn't have time for.

what is a job? it is the principle activity in ones life where they trade work for money. so whether you have a career in group #1 or in group #2, you are still working for a paycheck. group #1 struggled more and worked hard and they make bigger paychecks but usually are less happy. group #2 went to school, didn't have to struggle as much as group #1, make smaller paychecks, but they argue that their higher happiness level makes up for the lower pay.

two different groups, two different journey's, and 2 different outcomes, but one similar downfall that plagues both.

group #3
the "we-are-not-reliant-on-our-job-for-happiness-because-true- happiness-comes-from-within-ourselves" group. its so basic, so simple, and so overlooked. happiness is a state of mind. once upon a time people said you had to follow some outline to become successful and obtain the "american dream", then another group rose up and challenged that and said "screw that, we are gonna do what we love, cause it makes us happy while you are not happy". why is everyone so dependent on their job for happiness? sure you have to be there for long hours everyday. it's not about striving for success and luxuries to bring one happiness, cause that kind of happiness does not last long. it is not true, it is not real and sooner or later you will know that first hand. it's not about finding some external thing, some "happy" job, to be the basis for your happiness. its about yourself. its about your mind. its about finding happiness within yourself regardless of all the other shit that floats around out there externally. jobs come and go. you could be laid off from your dream job with a change of the market. why base ones life's happiness on something so external, so unstable, so unknown. how did war vets survive in the worst possible conditions when they were prisoners of war being tortured daily. happiness is a state of mind, a state that they managed to find in their darkest hour. you could be bound in a prison camp being tortured and still choose to be happy. its your mind, thus the decision is only yours. ecclesiastes says that there is only 2 purposes of life, to fear God and obey His commandments. the rest is, vanity, nothing. when you die it is gone. true happiness comes from within, the temple of God. nothing can prevent you from being happy, only your mind. only your mind. i hate seeing group #1 work so hard with happiness in their sights, only to get there finally and find out that it was an illusion. i hate seeing group #2 feel that something so external as a job as being the main source of ones happiness. they see it that way so much that they will be willing to make pennies just to find this happiness.

america functions on diversity. if everyone was in group #1, our nation would fail. if everyone was in group #2, the same thing would happen. perhaps it is good that some people have varying perspectives on what happiness means to them.

you can be a king or a homeless person. they both have minds. they both have entirely different circumstances. it doesn't matter how rich one is or how poor one is. the point is anyone can have happiness, as long as they want it. happiness is a state of mind. true happiness can only come from God, it can only be found within.