Happiness...

Was in the IRC channel adding my usual salvo to some unknown netter.

This netter soon 'private' me and I dragged my feet, since I have nothing important on.

The conversation went on until the following was made:
Netter - What is happiness?
Me - You define your own happiness. Dont ask me

I am stating the fact... how could YOU ask another what happiness is? To each person, there are 1001 reasons which can make you happy, be it short term or long term. But in the modern society, it is very unusual to find someone happy for too long.

To quote Lao Tzi “Dao De Jing’ 1st chapter,
“Dao, ke dao, fei chang dao;
Ming, ke ming, fei chang ming”

老子" 道德经" 第一章
[道，可道，非常道
名，可名，非常名]

Translation (forgive me if I did a bad job of translation... I will do my best)
"If the Way can be stated/described, then it is not the Way"
"If a Name can be named with words, then it is not a Name"
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To me, if happiness can be defined, then it is no longer the ‘happiness’ that you and I know of. It has become an entity, a subject, a tangible item which can be classified.

Similarly, what can make you happy may not necessarily make me feel the same. So it is sad, that the netter could have asked me such a question. In reality, I am sure that there are many people who is still seeking their own happiness.
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It is sad to see that many of the people around us are in fact unhappy. Unhappy with what?

With work, with family, with wife, with children, with boss, with pay, with Ah GONG, with not winning the 10M ToTo.... etc etc.

Material gains, have become a yardstick of success in our modern day society. Cars, condos, cash, certificates, career… maybe for some men, condoms used… do count as well. (This is only my assumption and does not necessarily reflect the views of others)

We have been inculcated since young, study hard… get good job… be rich.

Believe me, I had once preached the same tone to my younger cousins before. Alas, it is too late to take these words back. There are things in the world, which certainly precedes the wants of having hoards of cash.

Those who have not reached what society deems to be the ‘success’ levels, do not fret, do not feel disheartened. These are merely products of our greed. Do you think those people with such luxury are contended with what they have? A high probability would show that they would not sit on their laurels and count their chickens, so to say. They will end up relentlessly pursuing more and more and more….. pray thee, when is the final stop to it then?

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For those who are parents, what could be more priceless to see your young one giving you that special smile that could melt your heart?

Though I am not married, but it was certainly a delight when my niece (first gal in the family line) first addressed me ‘Shushu’. Just imagine, my niece addressing me could make my knees wobbly… thus if my child would have to call me ‘Daddy’, I think I would have gone and reach for the moon or the star for my child.

Over the course of the years that swept by, the little tots of my brother have gone from crawling all over the house to ransacking the house, almost tearing the house down with their antics, especially emptying the powder bottle for fun.

Time does really flies.

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I believe that many male members out there are very earnest in their livelihood, mainly to secure the dough to feed the family. I am also certain that there are men who take pride in seeing their off-springs take the first toddler steps… the first time they were addressed as ‘papa’ or ‘daddy’… But over the years, many of these fathers have degenerated into working machines, walking ATMs which dispenses the money when depressed; leaving the caring of the children into the hands of the mothers. It is of little wonder that fathers are the neglected bunch of homo-sapiens ever.

Of course among the flock, there are bound to be bad sheep around, an issue which some would not like to have it mention here. Anyway, this is only the tip of the iceberg; I can come up with more topics to babble about from this one.

Cheers
HJ