The document was dated July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson had painstakingly written it and 56 of our founding fathers signed it. The Declaration of Independence. The cornerstone of our great country. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" never mind that most of the 56 owned slaves at the time and if they didn't, they were from a wealthy family and did not consider themselves equal to most of the working class poor of the colonies. It is still a tremendous statement to build a country on. "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" Unalienable, according to Webster's that means, not alienable. Apparently government double talk even in the 1700's. Alienable:adjective: that may be changed over to another's ownership. So what are these rights that can not be changed over to anothers ownership? Jefferson only list three, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." So lets talk about happiness. Notice that happiness is not an unalienable right but only the pursuit of it. More government double talk. How important is that pursuit? If you go to the Internet Movie Database and search "pursuit of happiness" you get 1 popular title, from 2006 staring Will Smith, 2 exact titles, 13 partial titles and one company, The pursuit of happiness productions. So just what is happiness? What makes a person happy? Money? Nooo, money can't buy happiness, money can't buy me love, money is the root of all evil. I'm sure that the people that came up with those sayings all had money. So if not money then what? Family, maybe, but how many times do you fight with your family? If you are a parent how many times do you find yourself saying "Leave your brother/sister alone, stop that". On a personal note, if you only have one child you are not a parent, that is just a hobby. You are not a parent until you hear things like, Give it back, it's mine! or He touched me!! and the ever popular I'm TELLING. Back to happiness. I think that happiness is made up of quick split second moments that when you add enough of these moments together you can find happiness. These split seconds give you a lifetime of memories. In your memory the moment last longer then in reality. think back to your days in school, mostly you remember the good times. They seem to run together to the point that people will say, "I was very happy in school" We tend to forget the stress of studying for the big exams, the peer pressure of being in high school, the day to day drudgery of growing up. How small are these moments that bring us joy? How about a smile from someone special, makes you all warm and tingly inside doesn't it. A line from a song on the radio. It brings you back to happier times (see above). The smell of fresh baked food. Smell a turkey roasting and a flood of Thanksgiving memories run through your brain. Walk past a bakery early in the morning and you can almost float on the whiffs of aromas. The feel of an old blanket. You get that safe and warm feeling all over. Don't forget, how happy are you when the pizza man arrives or the waiter places the dinner on the table in front of you. You can be sitting with the most beautiful woman in the world and the waiter places your dinner down, your eyes leave the woman and look to the food and you are happy. What do all these things have in common with happiness, sight, smell, touch, sound and taste? The five senses bring happiness. Epiphany! Happiness is in you. The hardest pursuit possible, search yourself. How do you find happiness, look inside yourself. Be honest with yourself. Even if we consider ourselves honest people we never seem to be honest with ourselves. It is too hard. Look in that mirror, what do you see? A little overweight maybe? Your as big as a house! Just a little grey around the temples? Your hair, what's left of it, is white. We lie to ourselves because we want to be happy. A viscous cycle, we lie to ourselves to be happy but to really be happy we have to be honest with ourselves. Did you ever notice when you see someone that is always happy some one says, "They only think they are happy" or "Oh yeah, he's a bit crazy" No one wants to admit that someone else is happier then they are. So Steve's lessons for being happy. One, smile; always. If you are smiling two things can happen, others will smile and spread the joy around or miserable people will get pissed off because you are always happy and making miserable people more miserable really does make you happy. Two, sing or play music. Music makes people around you happy, except for rap and we can get into that some other time. Three, bring a box of donuts to work one morning. Watch peoples faces light up when ever free food comes around.
Mostly the answer is simple, make other people happy and you will be happy. If that wasn't true why would there be clowns? Or strip clubs. I'm sorry, they make me happy.
Enough philosophical bullshit.
Is fate stepping into the NFL. Is karma a fan of the gridiron? Can the Saints rebuild New Orleans with a super bowl bid? Is Tom Brady as good as he seems? Sit back, open a few cold ones and enjoy playoff football.