The Pursuit

Speech tackling happiness.

2013

Say, there is a very important, and yet mysterious…thing. No one can see it. No one can hear it. No one can touch it. No one can smell it. It is so abstract that no one can define it with precision, and yet it is so real that those who have felt it will never forget it. Work for it, and you will never get it. Everyone wants it, few have it. It is very vague, but it has a name. 

Happiness. 

That’s what it is. But what is it? What is happiness? So many have tried to define it, and failed. After all, how do you define something you can’t see, hear, touch, smell or taste? Well, you don’t. I can’t tell you what happiness is, nor will I try to. I can only tell you what it’s like. ‘Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder...’ (Henry David Thoreau) Happiness is like a handful of sand. The harder you clutch it, the more it leaks through your fingers. You cannot chase happiness, because if you do, you will never get it. Well then, you may ask, how do you become happy? That’s the million-dollar question.

Many people think that happiness comes from perfection. If everything is perfect, then everyone would be perfectly happy, right? Wrong. You cannot feel joy without knowing pain. You cannot know white until you have seen black. In the perfect world there is no misery, but there won’t be any happiness either. The one who lives the perfect life does not feel perfect, he feels nothing at all. If you live a perfect life in a perfect place with the perfect people, then perfection is…normal. Happiness comes from seeing things grow closer to perfection day by day. Happiness comes from overcoming challenges that you have failed before. Happiness comes from knowing that you are a better person than you were yesterday. Happiness is when you realize that your actions have changed the world to a better place. All of those things would not be possible in the perfect world. They say, if you stand at the peek of the tallest mountain, you can only go down. You can’t be more perfect than perfect. In the perfect world, there is only misery that awaits you. Misery is essential for happiness. That is doubtlessly true, but the balance between the two is precarious. Too much misery in your life and you’ll be…well, miserable. But live a life with little or no misery, then there is no comparison with which to appreciate happiness.

Happiness is usually linked with things of value. How many of you here have felt that moment of happiness when you accidently find a ten dollar bill while doing laundry? Or maybe that time when you tear open your Christmas present and find an iphone5 inside? But ask yourself this, how many of those little moments actually lasted? Probably none. A ten dollar bill will eventually be spent, an iphone5 will someday malfunction. All material wealth will someday be gone. So how do you find happiness that lasts? One will be separated from every tangible thing that they own at death, if not before then. But there are things that even death cannot take. All the bonds that you form with you and family, those bonds will not cease to exist when you die. Everyone knows that it is impossible to be physically immortal, but I believe that leaving a legacy and being remembered for your good deeds are far greater forms of immortality. This immortality is the key to a lasting happiness that even death cannot take.

The lack of scientific evidence and many challenges in life has caused the less optimistic group of people to lose faith in finding happiness. Some even think that happiness is an illusion. They have given up on happiness without knowing it. That alone guarantees that they will never find happiness. Happiness is a choice. You either chose to be happy, or you don't. According to scientific research, 40% of how happy you are is based on how much you want to be happy. Life is like a half filled cup. An optimist sees half a glass of water. A pessimist sees half the glass is empty. It’s quite obvious which one will live the happier life.

Do not expect perfection, you’ll be disappointed. Do not avoid misery, its apart of life. Do not content yourself with material wealth, they will not last. And remember, everything in life is a two sided coin, but which side you want to see is quite up to you. Chose to be happy and you will be happy. Probably.

Reviews

[JT Greyson]

Avoid some of the cliches in the third paragraph. The joy without pain, black without white, light without dark thing is overplayed.

What's the intent of this essay? It seems a bit vague about what's it's trying to accomplish. Are you offering a treatise on the nature of happiness, or are you giving advice on how to achieve it? It seems like both, and neither is done great service here. It seems like a decent rough draft, though. Block it out into at least two sections, with clear theses for each. That might help.