hopefulOn my morning walk, I was thinking about the video I posted recently, why it made me smile and get all choked up at the same time, why it made me happy during a fairly unpleasant week. Why it was healing.
It's the sheer joy of it, I think. Matt seems to be having the time of his life- and so does everyone dancing with him. Heck, I think the whale was happy, and I cherish a possibly-irrational belief that the guard at the DMZ was trying hard not to crack a smile. Mr. Harding is a man who seems to be living his dream, and his exuberance just shines out.
I think there's something in that. There's a lot of good being done in the world by a lot of people, a lot of worthy causes. But too often they try to motivate through fear, guilt, even horror. Even with the groups doing the best and most noble work in the world, sometimes it's hard not to say "enough, too much... tell me your success stories, not your horror stories." I'm not saying that anyone's exaggerating- with the responsible groups, it's probably the opposite. But guilt is poisonous- it taints even the good we do. I've ranted about that before, and will again... enough of that for now.
Happiness, enjoyment, fun- these are all good, in and of themselves. They don't need to have a purpose or a reason, they don't need to be for something. But they also feed the spirit, heal the heart, refresh the soul. There's not enough of that vital energy in the world.
Why not help increase it? You don't have to go to 42 countries and dance there... smaller things, to share your happiness, or help others to be happy. Share joy with your friends and loved ones. Smiles, jokes and little conversations with people you meet, letting someone get in front of you on the road or holding the door for someone who's burdened. Small things, and some of them you may never know what (if any) good they do... but that's true generosity.
No one (or few) can be happy all the time, but it's something to remember when you are. Shine if you can, reflect if you can't.
Thank you.
Now I'm going to go share it.
It is an incredibly empowering feeling to realize you just infected some people with joy.
I have experienced this, and it seems to happen spontaneously - hard to reproduce perhaps.
I was driving along I-66 with
Sutragirl claimed that only I could do that, but I think she is wrong and that it was a flash in the moment thing. Anyone with that youthful exuberance would have gotten the same result. It was a heady feeling all the same.
Smiles and hellos make strangers much more comfortable in elevators, lobbies, anyplace there are cramped quarters and momentary waiting.
Hell is not a place, but a state of mind (at least many people believe that), and it is clear that Matt is not in that state of mind at all - but that he is helping to banish hell wherever he is... including some places one would not think of as happy places.
Then again, I have a retirement fund and health care so I should be happy.
My personal happy story is Little Feet, a charity that hands out soccer balls to needy kids all over the world. Because sometimes, kids just need to be kids and play. www.littlefeet.com
Also, there's One Laptop Per Child, which may seem silly, but in the Internet world, getting everyone connected is vital for so many things...
The laptops are cute, and seem to work pretty well. FSG used them for registration, and I think in general they did OK... bit of a learning curve...