Post by ikkenandaa on Oct 4, 2005 10:56:21 GMT -5
Here's a 500 word essay I wrote for English 111-10 Last week. The topic was happiness.
What is Happiness?
This question is a load of ‘bull’, if you would forgive my language, because no one will have the same answer. Maybe two answers will have the same general meaning but no two people will come up with the same two answers themselves. Though since I, and I alone, am being asked this question at the moment, I shall answer to the best of my ability. Happiness, how do you like it so far? Is the verbal or physical manifestation of a joyous or ‘happy’ occasion within one human’s life to shroud the inevitability of death. That sounds kind of sad, does it not?
Upon reading the last sentence of the above paragraph you may think to yourself “This person is an extreme pessimist.” Then again you might not be thinking that at all, who am I to say? Though I can, and will, state that I am not a pessimist. I would rather prefer the term realist. Deep down within the happiest person there is doubt that they have fulfilled everything in their life that they can, or want to, before they die. Though there is nothing wrong with doubt. Doubt is just one of the many characteristics that determine the difference of a human being from an animal. Then again, can’t an animal be happy? Does a dog not wag it’s tail to signal that it is in a joyous mood. Does it not bare it’s teeth when it wishes to be left alone or is provoked? Human nature, in itself seems to be a contradiction in terms to me, though this isn’t a paper on human nature, this is a paper on happiness.
To me, happiness is but an illusion. An illusion created by the human subconscious to mask the impending death of all living creatures. I have come to this conclusion because there is no such thing as eternal happiness. Which, of course, is the state of being happy for all time. If you cannot be happy for all time then why be happy for a few minutes? Do you enjoy getting pushed back down into the miserable state of indifference? I, for one, do not. That is why I have come to believe exactly what I have stated above. Happiness is but an illusion.
Now that you understand my point of view and my reasoning for such, I must ask you if I am wrong? Though I must also ask, would I be wrong because you say I am or because a majority of today’s society would say I am? That is a question worth pondering over. It would seem that society today dictates whether you are right or wrong, the only defense that you may have is your ability to think for yourself and at the rate that we are going, that too will disappear altogether throwing this democratic government back into its primordial state of despotism.
I hope you have enjoyed my ranting and raving for the past four paragraphs and if nothing else I can only ask that you take nothing I have said to heart. Come up with your own concept and fight the majority till the end. As long as you believe what you say nothing else matters.
What is Happiness?
This question is a load of ‘bull’, if you would forgive my language, because no one will have the same answer. Maybe two answers will have the same general meaning but no two people will come up with the same two answers themselves. Though since I, and I alone, am being asked this question at the moment, I shall answer to the best of my ability. Happiness, how do you like it so far? Is the verbal or physical manifestation of a joyous or ‘happy’ occasion within one human’s life to shroud the inevitability of death. That sounds kind of sad, does it not?
Upon reading the last sentence of the above paragraph you may think to yourself “This person is an extreme pessimist.” Then again you might not be thinking that at all, who am I to say? Though I can, and will, state that I am not a pessimist. I would rather prefer the term realist. Deep down within the happiest person there is doubt that they have fulfilled everything in their life that they can, or want to, before they die. Though there is nothing wrong with doubt. Doubt is just one of the many characteristics that determine the difference of a human being from an animal. Then again, can’t an animal be happy? Does a dog not wag it’s tail to signal that it is in a joyous mood. Does it not bare it’s teeth when it wishes to be left alone or is provoked? Human nature, in itself seems to be a contradiction in terms to me, though this isn’t a paper on human nature, this is a paper on happiness.
To me, happiness is but an illusion. An illusion created by the human subconscious to mask the impending death of all living creatures. I have come to this conclusion because there is no such thing as eternal happiness. Which, of course, is the state of being happy for all time. If you cannot be happy for all time then why be happy for a few minutes? Do you enjoy getting pushed back down into the miserable state of indifference? I, for one, do not. That is why I have come to believe exactly what I have stated above. Happiness is but an illusion.
Now that you understand my point of view and my reasoning for such, I must ask you if I am wrong? Though I must also ask, would I be wrong because you say I am or because a majority of today’s society would say I am? That is a question worth pondering over. It would seem that society today dictates whether you are right or wrong, the only defense that you may have is your ability to think for yourself and at the rate that we are going, that too will disappear altogether throwing this democratic government back into its primordial state of despotism.
I hope you have enjoyed my ranting and raving for the past four paragraphs and if nothing else I can only ask that you take nothing I have said to heart. Come up with your own concept and fight the majority till the end. As long as you believe what you say nothing else matters.