Today in class we were talking about goals we had. As we discussed, we realized that most of our goals served a greater purpose, that purpose being our pursuit of happiness. Whether the goal was to earn a PhD, to start a family, to climb Mount Everest, they all led towards this idea of being happy. Tonight, I was reading some of the posts on Gives Me Hope, a website that compiles people's stories that are hopeful and touching, and came across a happiness related excerpt.
"I was reading about a little kid whose mom told him the key to life was happiness. When he was in school the teacher asked them to write down what they wanted to be when they grew up. He said happy. They said he didn't understand the assignment. He said they didn't understand life. My generation GMH." --An Entry from "Gives Me Hope"
For this kid, happiness was his goal. Though we don't realize it, this is all of our goals. If someone said they wanted to be an astronaut, it would be because they thought that it was interesting and essentially would bring them happiness. If someone wanted to be a successful businessman so they could be rich, they would want to do this because they would think it would bring them some sort of happiness.
Personally, I think that everything we do in life is to bring us to this sense of "happiness" whether we realize it or not. For example, doing homework. Though homework does not, scratch that, CANNOT bring anyone happiness directly, completing it could bring some joy. Maybe it will increase your grades and you will be rewarded. Maybe you believe it will lead you on the right track to the career you choose. Maybe it will make your parents happy, in turn making you happy. Everything we do is essentially attempting to bring us more and more joy in life, whether it is long term, or short term.
This boy had it right when he said "they didn't understand life". They didn't understand that his goal was the summation of everyone in the worlds goals.
Dani,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I believe that the one commonality between our goals is striving for happiness. I think that even when people's work requires them to perform tasks that do not result in direct happiness, longer term goals for them and their loved ones beat out their personal ambitions. For example, although my dad does not always enjoy his work, he does it in order to provide for our family.
Great blog post Dani- it really got me thinking about how my goals relate to my own and others happiness!