Have you ever looked someone straight in the face and asked, "Are you happy?" It's a loaded question. Happy? How do you begin to describe the word equivalent time ? Or air ? Or Deja vu ? It's difficult to describe. Well, it's difficult-times-ten when your boss asks you this at your end-of-the-year-review. "Are you happy here?" I got hot." Happy?" I thought to myself , "I don't think happiness is the point. What does 'happiness' matter when I have to house, clothe, and feed myself. I'm happy I'm employed?" "Yes. I'm happy." This is a question all of humankind has asked—one in which all of us fail to agree: what does it mean to be happy ? I have grown irritated with the number of people who poo-poo the value of "happiness" in the world. In recent years, I've noticed a resurgence in conservative values, especially those of the Stoic philosophers. For the Stoics, happiness is found in th...
words from an adolescent heart