On Happiness

Berenice Oliver

BS IE 2005-43758       

‘I lived without yesterday or tomorrow, in the eternal present. This is, precisely the definition of happiness’

-Czeslow Milosz

            The definition of happiness may vary from one person to another.  If I were to describe what happiness is, I would compare it to the feeling of eating ice cream and chocolates after a hard day’s work or when I’m feeling down.  Happiness is when you feel like everything’s all right and going your way.  

            The writer shared his childhood memories and how he viewed the adults when he was still a child.  I only remember a fraction of my experiences when I was still a naive little girl. I remember how much things were simpler back then. The only problems that I remembered encountering were disobeying my parents during siesta time (I didn’t want to sleep in the afternoon and wanted to play instead) and not getting what I want. Now, I wish that I can sleep in the afternoon instead of attending a boring class, and I learned the hard way that you don’t always get what you want. I was excited and always wishing that I would grow up fast, but now I am wishing that time would go slow or that I can go back to the simple and problem-free world of children.

            Unlike the author, I sometimes can’t concentrate solely on the goal of my action. If he is able to not think about the pain the worm is going through in the process of being the bait for him to catch a fish, I on the other hand keep on thinking of the possible consequences of my action and the people I might step on the way. I cannot fully see the success of my plan and action without also seeing the possibility of failure.

            But we cannot escape failure. Sometimes, losing is even a way of learning. We sit back and reflect where we went wrong so the next time around, we can avoid doing the same mistake in order to achieve success. Losing is a part of our life. Without it, we won’t enjoy the sweet feeling of winning.

The truth that nothing is permanent in the world that we are living in, is what most of us cannot take. Some even have to learn the hard way that everything exists only for a short time. We have the tendency of taking for granted not only material things around us, but also people who are there for us in times of our need.  We realize their worth only when the time comes when we know that we cannot bring them back.

Everything exists only for a fleeting moment. No matter how much we want to grasp and keep them forever, we just have to be contented for their existence and for being a part of our life even for just a short time.