Be Happy

I watched and listened to an irate customer berate a young fast food
restaurant clerk. Young minimum wage workers appear to be fair game. The
angry man grew red in the face as he yelled at the young man.

What was the young man's sin that deserved this wrath? He gave the man
onion rings instead of french fries.

I advised the man to calm down, that he was making a scene. He told me to
mind my own blankety-blank business. He quieted down only after he saw the
looks being given to him by the other customers.

I don't understand such behavior.

If you are having a bad day, that's a shame. Get over it. You are not going
to make your day better by ruining the day of another.

Misery needs to stop loving company.

Our days are not going to be perfect. Find a bless in the mess.

A neighbor once told me, "You might as well be happy, no one cares if you
ain't." He is the same guy who was fond of saying, "If ignorance is bliss,
how come there aren't more happy people?"

The older I get the more I value time and good folks. The more I want my
loved ones to be happy. The more I want to spend my time being happy.

We owe it to our loved ones, our friends and our co-workers to be happy.

Warren Zevon said it well in one of his songs, "Enjoy every sandwich."

My mother was one who enjoyed every sandwich. She found joy in the joy of
others. She believed in a principle called "Santosa." I doubt that she'd
even heard of Santosa, but she lived it. Santosa means finding contentment
regardless of outer circumstances. "It's good enough," was something often
said by my mother. She knew that things turn out best for those who make
the best out of the way things turn out. She had a gift for appreciating
life's pleasures. She rejoiced in a light breeze on a hot day, the song of
the crickets and the full moon that illuminated the night. She felt that
there was no reason to be unhappy when you could be happy. She taught by
example that one of the best things we could do in life is to find
happiness and then share it with others.

I don't enjoy watching depressing movies or disturbing TV programs. I don't
want to hear about any more conspiracy theories. I don't want to hear
negative campaign ads. I don't want to listen to personal attacks on those
willing to take leadership roles. I don't want to hear mean-spirited talk
show hosts attack all who do not agree with them.

What makes us happy?

Perhaps it is as the cartoonist Charles Schulz said, "Happiness is a warm
puppy." I do know that my dog is happy. It is easy to make my faithful
canine companion happy. All I have to do is to say, while leaving the
house, "You can go." James Thurber observed that, "Dogs are obsessed with
being happy." Dogs need no reason to be happy. That's because they have
every reason to be happy.

We are told that money cannot buy us happiness. The stories in the
supermarket tabloids-if only a few are true--have proven that. This is no
reason for pessimism. No one will ever be rich enough to be able to afford
to be pessimistic.

Good memories make us happy. Memories provide more beginnings than endings.

We gather good memories from our experiences.

We should spend more on experiences and less on things.

Travel produces great experiences and wonderful memories.

We need to seek happiness, not pleasure. Pleasure alone does not bring
happiness--as anyone who has ever been on a diet because of an appetite for
fattening food can attest.

We need to choose to be happy. We need to find joy in green lights, the
antics of chipmunks, rainbows and the smell of sunshine.

Barrow, Alaska is located 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is the
USA's northernmost city. It is a place where polar bears roam and the
minimum temperature is below freezing for 324 days of the year. Barrow is a
place that when the sun sets on November 18, it does not rise again until
January 23. That is a lot of darkness.

4400 people live there. How can they do that--with all that darkness?

Ernie Banks said, "If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't
be happy any place."

The residents of Barrow survive by remembering that the sun does not set at
all between May 10 and August 2. The residents are given 82 days of
sunshine. They survive by enjoying the northern lights that dance across
their darkened sky. The aurora borealis brightens their world.

We should all rejoice with the light rather than find sorrow in the darkness.

Be happy.

Al Batt, © 2004

Al Batt is a husband, father and grandfather who lives on a farm near
Hartland, Minnesota. He is a writer, speaker and storyteller. He writes a
newspaper column. He does a regular TV and radio show, contributes to many
magazines and newspapers, and is an avid birder. You can write Al at:
<mailto:SnoEOwl@...>SnoEOwl@...