Now that you have it down that America guarantees only the pursuit of happiness, not happiness itself, you need to decide what it is or how many things you want to pursue in the spirit of America. What do you want to pursue in American fashion? Is it pleasure? How about wealth, more money, a bigger house, a bigger car, many houses, many cars? Why not add a motorcycle, a boat, a yacht, an ATV, an RV, a private airplane?
Pursue knowledge, philosophy, education. Go beyond high school to college. Reach the heights of graduate school and add a title or two before your name, perhaps Dr. or PhD, or some other fancier, more impressive tag. Be a lifelong student; no learning is for nothing, so they say.
Pursue the career of your dreams. Pursue toys, little ones or big ones, cheap toys or expensive toys. Pursue sex, all the sex you can have, with whomever you want to have it, whenever you like it, wherever you and your sex partner choose.
Pursue the best foods at the best restaurants. Pursue travel and spend your nights at the world's luxurious hotels and motels, and watch pay-per-view movies or premium channels while you are there. See the world by car, train, ship or airplane. Add tourism to travel as icing on the cake of adventure.
Pursue friends, and multiply them by the dozens, if you want. Pursue sports. Pursue the perfect body, watching what you eat; work out like a well-oiled machine. Pursue your pet project, the hobby of your fancy. Become a decorator, a writer, a singer, a designer, an engineer, a builder, and build whatever your heart desires. Pursue plants and gardens, and seek fulfillment in nature and horticulture.
Pursue fame, and get your own shiny spot in the sun of celebrity and popularity. Pursue position with some star power of your own. Seek political office for whatever reason you can come up with, and have the whole world chanting your name or slogan, while you convince them that it's all about them, not about you. Get them to believe that together you and they have been called to change the world.
Pursue technology. Own the latest computer and other communication gadgets of the time: laptop, cell phone, ipod, iphone, GPS, HDTV, DVR, TiVo. Get all you can, and can all you get.
Better yet, pursue religion, charity, philanthropy, doing the right thing. Volunteer your time and give your hard-earned money to help those in need. Find your cause in life and sacrifice all you can for that worthy cause, whatever it is. It will even make you feel good, that with your life you have made someone else's life better.
Pursue and marry the love of your life. Settle down and raise a family. It is far better than running around, shacking up, sleeping here and there, or is it really better? Raise responsible children and donate them as your ultimate contribution to human civilization. You may be proud of that, or you may regret the whole thing after all, in your sunset days.
You can pursue all of the above. You can grab hold of some or most of them. But sooner or later, you will realize that happiness still lurks in the foggy distance of your future, yet waiting to be pursued.
If there is anything in life close to a semblance of happiness, it only lies in the pursuit itself. "The pursuit of happiness". Not the possession of happiness. You are happier pursuing than finding and keeping whatever it is you are chasing.
Whether sifting through the desolations of the underdeveloped world in Africa, Asia and South America, or soaring heights of affluent North America and Europe, it does not matter what continent or country, there is no deposit or reservoir of happiness to be found anywhere on this planet. Humans have searched for and found deposits of petroleum, the dark wealth over which humans and nations continue to fight wars to control its flow and supply. Deposits of gold, diamond, iron and other minerals abound, and greed for these precious metals never cease to spoil much of our luck at happiness. But there has yet to be that one lucky son of man who decoded the secret or unearthed the stuff of happiness, that true wealth that all other riches combined cannot even begin to afford. Happiness is as priceless as it is scarce.
And whatever is valuable, humans will search for. Thus the chase goes on. The pursuit continues, the pursuit of happiness. Though something inside each of us tells us, we'll never find on this side of the grave the permanent state of happiness we are chasing, we somehow know it's better to be in pursuit of the dream than to give up the chase, sit back and kick back for a cop out in the name of frustration.
Be true to yourself and admit it: You are not happy, and you have never met a truly happy person. Many of your acquaintances pretend to be happy, but if you ever get to really know them, you'll find they're just like you and your family and friends: unhappy, always in pursuit, but never laying hold of the prize, not finally and permanently.
Now, for any soul who has ever been so blessed as to experience pure happiness, it has always been just for a fleeting moment every time. You see, real happiness is the orgasm of life. Like orgasm, happiness is the peak to which every human effort and endeavor builds. Like orgasm, happiness is a climax that sends into one's innermost being the sweetest of feelings. Sad thing is, the high never lasts. It is not meant to. Happiness is meant to like the brief splash of a victory lap accompanied by cheers, the awarding of medals and singing of a national anthem after an athlete wins an Olympic event. Happiness never lasts beyond the moment. Because of its fleeting nature, we humans can spend our lives in pursuit of happiness. Without the thrill of the chase, life would be quite boring, hardly worth your breath. What is life, after all, without something worth chasing, especially if the object of the chase is happiness, even if for a dot of time.
I'm still in hot pursuit of happiness. In the not-too-distant past, I managed to grab it a time or two, but lost it again each time. How about you? Let me know if you've found happiness that lasts. Or have you given up the pursuit, as millions of souls have done?
Pursue knowledge, philosophy, education. Go beyond high school to college. Reach the heights of graduate school and add a title or two before your name, perhaps Dr. or PhD, or some other fancier, more impressive tag. Be a lifelong student; no learning is for nothing, so they say.
Pursue the career of your dreams. Pursue toys, little ones or big ones, cheap toys or expensive toys. Pursue sex, all the sex you can have, with whomever you want to have it, whenever you like it, wherever you and your sex partner choose.
Pursue the best foods at the best restaurants. Pursue travel and spend your nights at the world's luxurious hotels and motels, and watch pay-per-view movies or premium channels while you are there. See the world by car, train, ship or airplane. Add tourism to travel as icing on the cake of adventure.
Pursue friends, and multiply them by the dozens, if you want. Pursue sports. Pursue the perfect body, watching what you eat; work out like a well-oiled machine. Pursue your pet project, the hobby of your fancy. Become a decorator, a writer, a singer, a designer, an engineer, a builder, and build whatever your heart desires. Pursue plants and gardens, and seek fulfillment in nature and horticulture.
Pursue fame, and get your own shiny spot in the sun of celebrity and popularity. Pursue position with some star power of your own. Seek political office for whatever reason you can come up with, and have the whole world chanting your name or slogan, while you convince them that it's all about them, not about you. Get them to believe that together you and they have been called to change the world.
Pursue technology. Own the latest computer and other communication gadgets of the time: laptop, cell phone, ipod, iphone, GPS, HDTV, DVR, TiVo. Get all you can, and can all you get.
Better yet, pursue religion, charity, philanthropy, doing the right thing. Volunteer your time and give your hard-earned money to help those in need. Find your cause in life and sacrifice all you can for that worthy cause, whatever it is. It will even make you feel good, that with your life you have made someone else's life better.
Pursue and marry the love of your life. Settle down and raise a family. It is far better than running around, shacking up, sleeping here and there, or is it really better? Raise responsible children and donate them as your ultimate contribution to human civilization. You may be proud of that, or you may regret the whole thing after all, in your sunset days.
You can pursue all of the above. You can grab hold of some or most of them. But sooner or later, you will realize that happiness still lurks in the foggy distance of your future, yet waiting to be pursued.
If there is anything in life close to a semblance of happiness, it only lies in the pursuit itself. "The pursuit of happiness". Not the possession of happiness. You are happier pursuing than finding and keeping whatever it is you are chasing.
Whether sifting through the desolations of the underdeveloped world in Africa, Asia and South America, or soaring heights of affluent North America and Europe, it does not matter what continent or country, there is no deposit or reservoir of happiness to be found anywhere on this planet. Humans have searched for and found deposits of petroleum, the dark wealth over which humans and nations continue to fight wars to control its flow and supply. Deposits of gold, diamond, iron and other minerals abound, and greed for these precious metals never cease to spoil much of our luck at happiness. But there has yet to be that one lucky son of man who decoded the secret or unearthed the stuff of happiness, that true wealth that all other riches combined cannot even begin to afford. Happiness is as priceless as it is scarce.
And whatever is valuable, humans will search for. Thus the chase goes on. The pursuit continues, the pursuit of happiness. Though something inside each of us tells us, we'll never find on this side of the grave the permanent state of happiness we are chasing, we somehow know it's better to be in pursuit of the dream than to give up the chase, sit back and kick back for a cop out in the name of frustration.
Be true to yourself and admit it: You are not happy, and you have never met a truly happy person. Many of your acquaintances pretend to be happy, but if you ever get to really know them, you'll find they're just like you and your family and friends: unhappy, always in pursuit, but never laying hold of the prize, not finally and permanently.
Now, for any soul who has ever been so blessed as to experience pure happiness, it has always been just for a fleeting moment every time. You see, real happiness is the orgasm of life. Like orgasm, happiness is the peak to which every human effort and endeavor builds. Like orgasm, happiness is a climax that sends into one's innermost being the sweetest of feelings. Sad thing is, the high never lasts. It is not meant to. Happiness is meant to like the brief splash of a victory lap accompanied by cheers, the awarding of medals and singing of a national anthem after an athlete wins an Olympic event. Happiness never lasts beyond the moment. Because of its fleeting nature, we humans can spend our lives in pursuit of happiness. Without the thrill of the chase, life would be quite boring, hardly worth your breath. What is life, after all, without something worth chasing, especially if the object of the chase is happiness, even if for a dot of time.
I'm still in hot pursuit of happiness. In the not-too-distant past, I managed to grab it a time or two, but lost it again each time. How about you? Let me know if you've found happiness that lasts. Or have you given up the pursuit, as millions of souls have done?
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