Happy..What is it?

 Do people really even know what will make them happy? 

That's something that professor Grobstein asked us on Thursday. Happiness is a massive concept we are always working towards, it's true. However, how do we each define happiness? I was discussing something similar to this with a friend a few days ago, and I realized that I use the term "happy" rather loosely. If someone is smiling, i'd describe them as happy. If someone is having fun, i'd describe them as happy. If someone seems content, then they are happy too. Happy is a term that, to me, can define many different aspects of things. But does using it to describe so many different ideas undermine its true meaning? In terms of "happy" I think that it indicates feelings of pleasure. You win the lottery, you are happy. You eat a delicious dessert, you are happy. You see an old friend, you are happy. But..it's all temporary. Feelings of pleasure end, and all that's left is the memory that they gave. But, I suppose that that is happiness too, in a way. To remember, feel content. It's not necessarily that you are feeling pleasure anymore..and it doesn't necessarily mean that there is a smile plastered ear to ear on your face..but you feel almost close to neutral with a twinge of hope. I suppose that is true happiness to me. Being serene and faithful. The first "happy" i described would be more of just pleasure-seeking. Pleasure is not happiness because all pleasure ends. When I think of happiness, I want it to be something unending.Happiness seems like such a reward to get in life...an eternally-lasting prize won after years of hardship. I don't know who said it, it was probably professor Grobstein, "the state of happiness may prevent you from exploring new things just as much as depression does" and this is probably true. I feel as though if someone were truly happy and content with the way things were at a point in time, then they would never do anything to change anything. Someone would just exist. I suppose this again begs me to re-define my version of happiness. I'd say a large majority of people are happy. And the world still turns, and people still try to make a good life for themselves. So perhaps this means that happiness can exist alongside hardship and heartache. Happiness must not be the end, because if it were, once someone achieved happiness, there would be nothing left to live for. Happiness must be something besides feeling pleasure (as I have already said, its all temporary) and it must be something less than feeling perpetually content. It must be the in between of hope, perhaps. Hope seems like the appropriate intermediary between the two. Hope means that you may possibly not like where you are now, but, you decide to keep going on in life, because somewhere along the way, things may look up or change for the better. 

When i use happiness, I think i'll try to be more direct in my meaning from now on. We mentioned Japan in class, and my throat instantly tightened up as I thought about my brother who lives there. He moved out of Tokyo a few days ago to the southern island of Kyushu to stay with an old family friend, Kyoko. My mom spoke to Kyoko about her grandson who stayed in Tokyo, and asked if she was worried about him. "The Japanese don't think that way. It's all the foreigners who are so unfaithful about the entire event" This quote..gives me a strange feeling. A little sad, but hopeful. As worried as I am, it makes me feel a little more calm about everything. I like to hear the statistics and probability of how likely it is that radiation won't spread to certain parts of Japan. And the Japanese people continue on, strong, faithful, commendably polite and civil. And these numbers make me calmer, and though I feel tight-throated, I feel hopeful. And, in turn, I suppose I'm happier than I once was.