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I watched
and listened to an irate customer berate a young fast food
restaurant clerk. Young minimum wage workers appear to be
fair game. The angry man grew red in the face as he yelled
at the young man.
What was the
young man??™s sin that deserved this wrath? He gave the man
onion rings instead of French fries.
I advised
the man to calm down, that he was making a scene. He told
me to mind my own blankety-blank business. He quieted down
only after he saw the looks being given to him by the other
customers.
I don??™t
understand such behavior.
If you are
having a bad day, that??™s a shame. Get over it. You are not
going to make your day better by ruining the day of another.
Misery needs
to stop loving company.
Our days are
not going to be perfect. Find a bless in the mess.
A neighbor
once told me, ???You might as well be happy, no one cares if
you ain??™t.??? He is the same guy who was fond of saying, ???If
ignorance is bliss, how come there aren??™t more happy
people????
The older I
get the more I value time and good folks. The more I want
my loved ones to be happy. The more I want to spend my time
being happy.
We owe it to
our loved ones, our friends and our co-workers to be happy.
Warren Zevon
said it well in one of his songs, ???Enjoy every sandwich.???
My mother
was one who enjoyed every sandwich. She found joy in the
joy of others. She believed in a principle called ???Santosa.???
I doubt that she??™d even heard of Santosa, but she lived it.
Santosa means finding contentment regardless of outer
circumstances. ???It??™s good enough,??? was something often said
by my mother. She knew that things turn out best for those
who make the best out of the way things turn out. She had a
gift for appreciating life??™s pleasures. She rejoiced in a
light breeze on a hot day, the song of the crickets and the
full moon that illuminated the night. She felt that there
was no reason to be unhappy when you could be happy. She
taught by example that one of the best things we could do in
life is to find happiness and then share it with others.
I don??™t
enjoy watching depressing movies or disturbing TV programs.
I don??™t want to hear about any more conspiracy theories. I
don??™t want to hear negative campaign ads. I don??™t want to
listen to personal attacks on those willing to take
leadership roles. I don??™t want to hear mean-spirited talk
show hosts attack all who do not agree with them.
What makes
us happy?
Perhaps it
is as the cartoonist Charles Schulz said, ???Happiness is a
warm puppy.??? I do know that my dog is happy. It is easy to
make my faithful canine companion happy. All I have to do
is to say, while leaving the house, ???You can go.??? James
Thurber observed that, ???Dogs are obsessed with being happy.???
Dogs need no reason to be happy. That??™s because they have
every reason to be happy.
We are told
that money cannot buy us happiness. The stories in the
supermarket tabloids-if only a few are true--have proven
that. This is no reason for pessimism. No one will ever be
rich enough to be able to afford to be pessimistic.
Good
memories make us happy. Memories provide more beginnings
than endings.
We gather
good memories from our experiences.
We should
spend more on experiences and less on things.
Travel
produces great experiences and wonderful memories.
We need to
seek happiness, not pleasure. Pleasure alone does not bring
happiness--as anyone who has ever been on a diet because of
an appetite for fattening food can attest.
We need to
choose to be happy. We need to find joy in green lights,
the antics of chipmunks, rainbows and the smell of sunshine.
Barrow,
Alaska is located 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle and
is the USA??™s northernmost city. It is a place where polar
bears roam and the minimum temperature is below freezing for
324 days of the year. Barrow is a place that when the sun
sets on November 18, it does not rise again until January
23. That is a lot of darkness.
4400 people
live there. How can they do that--with all that darkness?
Ernie Banks
said, ???If you aren??™t happy in one place, chances are you
won??™t be happy any place.???
The
residents of Barrow survive by remembering that the sun does
not set at all between May 10 and August 2. The residents
are given 82 days of sunshine. They survive by enjoying the
northern lights that dance across their darkened sky. The
aurora borealis brightens their world.
We should
all rejoice with the light rather than find sorrow in the
darkness.
Be happy.
?©Al Batt
2004
71622 325 St.
Hartland, MN 56042
SnoEowl @ aol.com
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