HAPPINESSISNOWHERE

On July 4th we usually think of the Declaration of Independence. It talks about certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.The founding fathers were very clever. Look at how they phrased it. They didn't say, we have the inalienable rights to life, liberty AND happiness. We have the right to life, liberty but when it comes to happiness, you don't have it; you have to PURSUE it, In other words, you have to go after it,or fight for it.

I wish the founding fathers never phrased it like that; The word 'pursuit' implies two things: it means first that we have to work hard to achieve happiness and secondly, it is a future reality; we have to do something NOW to get it LATER.

The title of this piece is a combo word which can be read two ways: HAPPINESS IS NOWHERE or HAPPINESS IS NOW HERE. It depends on you. But remember that happiness is NOW, in the person, place, event and moment right in front of you!

The idea of pursuit of happiness has made us a very unhappy people. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 20 percent of Americans are really happy. I guess the other 80 percent are in a rat race of pursuing happiness, only to find out that it is a mirage.

The pursuit of happiness is essentially the denial of happiness. In fact, the pursuit of happiness must always fail because it is based on a lie that it is outside of us: Happiness is not outside of us; happiness is an inside job.

I think the founding fathers were very smart to use the word inalienable. Notice the word, and you will see that it has the word ALIEN in it. Your life and freedom and happiness truly lies in the ALIEN, the OTHER. Real life and real liberty and real happiness comes from loving and serving the ALIENS among us.