Pursuit of Happiness

March 29, 2011
Pogo Score: 3,199,066
I’m trying to choke down some oatmeal--it’s really too dry and I think I’m finished. My body is rejecting the glutinous mass. This is what happens when I try to eat something healthy. An adverse reaction kicks in, and my body reacts badly. If I had ice-cream instead, that would slide right down the gullet with no interference whatsoever.
Right now, it seems that the people who are close to me are all battling some kind of misfortune and sadness. It’s so important to be there for people you love, when they need a kind and willing ear. It’s important to let them know you are there, and that you are listening, even though there is nothing that you can do to solve their problems, or to decrease their suffering.
People suffer. It’s part of life, and yet, we continue to be disappointed when things don’t go our way, or when life is not “fair,” and our luck is in the toilet. We “expect” to be happy, as if this is our right. With all due respect to the Declaration of Independence, we have the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, but we don’t have the right to possess them. If pursuit was a good as possession we would all be the children of top celebrities. We would all be rich. We would all be happy.
So why can’t we become more tolerant towards suffering? Why can’t we learn to expect to suffer, and to feel pain? For me, my pain sometimes transcends into a thing that is beautiful, when it inspires me to create something beautiful that comes from the pain. Creativity does not come from comfort, or excess. Creativity comes from feeling all the scrapes and bruises the body can bear, and the mind can accept. Good things come from bad things, everyday.