The Fulbright organization spends a lot of time, money, and effort organizing the teacher exchanges and I have at times thought it well worth it and at times have seen that the cultural obstacles sometimes impede learning. (Two of the teachers in my cohort of 11 have dropped out.) My favorite teaching moment of the year so far has been thanks to Melanee's question on whether or not Benjamin Franklin was happy. She thought he worked too much and had too little leisure to have been happy. I explained that from my point of view for many Americans working is happiness. They have a sense of controling their destiny and moving forward towards greater things. According to Nicolas Kristoff there's another reason Benjamin Franklin must have been a very happy man.
Please read this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/opinion/17kristof.html?em
Questions to consider:
1. What does Kristoff think we need to be happy? Do you agree or disagree?
2. How does this relate to our world both our local, daily every day lives and what is going on in Haiti?
3. How does this relate to Benjamin Franklin?
4. How does this relate to you? Do you consider yourself happy? Why or why not?
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Kristoff thinks we need food,sex and giving to be happy.I think these things are important but I also think that everybody has his/her own meaning of happiness.Happiness is very complex. It's true that our basic needs are important and that there may be a pleasure in giving but it depends on the person.For some people happinesss may mean achieving their goals or having a family:I think most of the time happiness is when you can have what you're expecting from life,the moment dreams become reality.Everybody has different dreams and this is why I think we can't sum up happiness in three words.The wishes that we make on the first day of the year don't only concern food, sex and giving.For some people good works such as giving ,working,or religious activities are more important than food. For instance,in Benjamin Franklin's autobiography we can see that he takes more pleasure working all day than eating.
ReplyDeleteBut,I really think that there's happiness when you give.This article relates to our local, everyday lives and what's going in Haiti because it's shows that one of ways to be happy is to make others happy by giving.The images that we have seen on TV about the earthquake in Haiti make us realize how much they need our help.We are not victims of a disaster and yet there are some of us who are not happy, so this article encourages to be more generous since there is happiness when you give. This is exactly what Lorna's portrait shows:she's not wealthy but helping others brings her happiness.
This article relates to Benjamin Franklin because in his book,he presents his happiness as having virtues(humility, temperance...)and being able to work a lot.The link with the article is the fact that happiness is not associated with material things as we usually do but with values(giving) and simple things(food, sex).It's totally the contrary of wealth.
This article relates because I think the simplest things can make us happy.I think we can be happy if we are able to be contented with what we have without always longing for more.
Well, I consider myself happy because I think I'm very lucky.I have a family that supports me a lot , friends with whom I have fun and because I'm able to go to school to work and learn new things everyday. I think I'm happy now and I'd be even happier to finish my studies and to get a good job.
say tha
I'm the first so I couldn't answer to anyone!snif :(, it's no big deal, I will talk all alone :) What is to be happy? What does it mean? Good questions but with answers which can be debatable. For Nicolas Kristoff, happiness remains food, sex and giving. That's the keys, in his opinion to be happy. In many cases, working participates to the reaching to happiness. For the student that I am, it can be a little difficult to imagine that working can be a source of pleasure or well-being.In my opinion, one element very important is missing to that list: the family. I am convinced that to be really happy in life, you have to have great relationship,in any case you have to try, with all the members of your family. It's crucial to be well-adjusted, and having good relations with your family contribute to your development.
ReplyDeleteEverybody is touched by what happened in Haiti, above all us who are living not so far from them, on an island which is really prone to earthquake like them. Everybody also knows that Haiti is country where its inhabitants have already suffered so much, because of the poverty, the abuse of the ones who own the power, the deliquency and so on...So we can wonder if they can be , one day,happy in their own country and live happily.They seem in fact to not have chance, as if all the misfortune is destined to Haiti. Maybe I am exagerating a little, but in fact, everytime Haiti is touched by a tragedy, you can prevent youserlf from thinking those kind of things...
Benjamin Francklin seemed to have been happy during in his life. He was a hard worker, and you can even say that all is life, in any case a great part of it, has been turning over working.
But for me, working is not sufficient to be happy in your life. Of course, you have to because you need money to have better life and don't have problems, and to not be like a wimp in front of your TV set, but you need much more. Indeed, much than sex, you need love. The best is to tie up the two things, and see the result of your love (your children) growing up and succeed in life, that is a source of happiness. Having a certain stability in life between money, work, love, sexe and family, for me these are the keys to be happy in life.
But in fact, I forgot the most important element to really be happy, in any case in my opinion, you have put your life under God's eyes because he will the stick on which you can rely on and trust in everytime in your life. Indeed, if you trust him, he will never let you down. That is, for me, the most important thing that was missing in Nicolas Kristoff's list.
I am really happy that I have contributed to Mrs Owens' experience here. I particularly enjoyed reading this article because it deals with a topic I care much about. According Kristoff, we ought to be happy because happiness is as elementary as eating. By comparing both Lorna and Richard's lives, he stresses the huge gap between them but also, arises some awareness of the futility of Richard's life who has everything and yet, lacks of the essential.
ReplyDeleteWhen I ask people what they dream of and what are their ambitions in life, they often, not to say, always, answer the same things: a job, money, sometimes a family, traveling and so on. When comes my turn to answer, I say : my ambition in life is to be happy and live the dreams I haven't found yet. I may be smart and industrious if I have to, but I do not think life sums itself up to hardworking sacrifice and stress. I may sound naive, or even non connected to reality, but I don't care. Life is short and I realized that around me, few are those that answer "yes I am" when I ask "Are you happy?"
Of course, I know we have to study hard to achieve what we want, we have to push our limits, we have to make sacrifices, we have to be able to control our destiny as Mrs Owens said so well, and I agree and admire American people who are so industrious to get what they want. But then what? I don't actually want to push my limits to prove to a couple of teachers that I am really smart and then feel frustrated, unhappy, stressed and sick because I can't bare failure! I am going to leave to pursue my studies, and I already know that I'm not going to do what I like, I'm going to do what has to be done and that's it. And I can't stand it because the point of a life is not to do what has to be done.
There is no longer dreams in this society and happiness is faked, always being related to money and goods. We need more than that. There is something that stroke me when Mrs Owens said that she went to the beach and "then what?". I don't agree. They are simple instants in life when we can be so simply happy. Just enjoying to be there, while now in Haiti, not so far from us, people died and are dying, are homeless and desperate. Don't we have the duty to respect men's grief in the world when we have the possibility to choose to be happy?
Benjamin Franklin might have been happy, yet I doubt about it. I don't really consider myself as happy, but I decided with this new year to do all that is in my power to fulfill this dream to be happy. I want my life to be something I will be proud of when I'll be eighty, I don't want to regret or to say that I missed something. And it's ok if people don't agree with me. But there is enough misery down here not to take the time to take the time, sometimes...
I don't think that Kristoff believes that only food and sex allow people to be happy. Indeed he argued that Lorna may be happier than Richard. Happiness depends on so many things linked to the person as a singular human beings that I doubt of the possibility to draw out anything else than statistics. And doing this, we forget so many cases, so many specificities and oddities... However I'd first like to say that Sophie is right when she says that family is very important if you want to be happy in life. I'm not saying that it is an imperial necessity though. She is right because she told us what happiness means to HER. Then we are forced to notice that people living among a sane and happy family ARE happy. Nonetheless, every one is not able to say "I do have a family I'm happy with."
ReplyDeleteWe must put things into perspective. Sometimes, like everybody, I feel depressed. But when I hear about disasters as sad as what happened in Haïti, I feel stupid for having been depressed whereas I cannot pretend to have suffered as much as the Haitians or as plenty of people who wouldn't be able to say that they are happy. Then being happy depends on what one thinks being happy is but also about what one knows about what not being happy really looks like. It is the reason why we should be satisfied with details that actually seem ordinary. I believe that happiness resides in fragments of lifetime which are in fact wonders once they are considered apart, for their true meaning. It can be the smile upon your beloved's face, a sunset... I believe that these moments are precious. I'm not trying to be romantic but I think that when one is able to stop a while in order to be positively deeply moved by details, he is indeed sensible and probably happy.
As regards Ben Franklin, in my mind, it is obvious that he was happy. First, I never saw someone writing an autobiography if not at least the least satisfied with what he did in his life. We can argue that Ben Franklin wrote to help whoever willing to improve one's life. However, he was probably a bit proud of his life. Then, i'm convinced that his industrious life made him happy as well as his determination to be virtuous for he did want to live this way and he had some success... I especially admire the people able to work an entire life because they aim at personnal accomplishments. I admire the scientist who search their whole life, likely happy while working because working allows them to live their passion. It is not only something "made in U.S", when i see the science section students work, i can feel that they are living a passion and i am sure that they are happy when they work, especially when they find answers. It is something within reach in every field though, in literature, in business, etc. Only, it depends on every subjective definition of happiness even if we have certainties about what is generally wished in life...
What kristoff says about happiness totally fits my own ideas. Behind what he exposes, what I see is selfishness in its purest form. But I mean a selfishness that only cares about seeking pleasures, pleasures that only belongs to myself, and pleasures can be found in every sort of things in life. Each experience provides different kind of sensation which make us richer and richer. The first thing you need to do in life is to take, to take everything, everywhere, and at any time. Then comes a time when you' re able to give and share your own ego and selfishness with other people, and this is what I call to be generous. To be a great giver also means to be a great taker : in effect, how would I be able to share what doesn't belong to me ?
ReplyDeleteHappiness means satisfying ourselves first, and even when we come to share with others, at the end what we really want is our own fulfillment. But happiness is a thing that always escape from our hands, and this is why no one is never really satisfied, we always want something different because in fact, human beings never stop building themselves untill they die. So i'd say that pure happiness is ephemere and must be seized when it comes.
As for me, I know that i' m happy in life, I do what i love and I love what I do ( well...most of the time ! lol ). Actually, doing what i do not like does get me bored to death.In life i just go forward, taking it as it comes. I only look to the past to see what i' ve accomplished till now, and to say how proud and fond of myself i am. And then I look to the future and see all the things I still have to experience, and I smile :D
I am selfish, and i' m not ashamed to say that, because I think conquering ourselves is true power.
Concerning mister Franklin, I think no one could be happier in life than him ( I mean look at all the thing he accomplished ! ). For me, his autobiography clearly shows he was selfish enough to be happy, and that he understood sharing himself with other people was a source of pleasure and happiness. Surely, he was a genuis and he knew it, he was very conscious of his own value, and I think this is why is was so selfconfident.
The question of happiness is very complex in my opinion .
ReplyDeleteIn fact , it really depends on every one and for this reason we can say that the question of happiness is very subjective .
I think criteria as food, sex , giving, the colour of skin , beauty , or youth aren't the true problems of happiness , in my opinion it is much more profound .
Consequently define the happiness as Kristoff said through food, sex and giving seems to me to be a very reduced and simplistic vision of happiness .
I admire and I find extraordinary that some people recognize and say their are happy ,because to me that means they succeed in contenting themselves with what life offered them ; What is not always easy .
In fact , I know a lot of people who don't succeed in being happy because they are not satisfied of what they have and want to get what the others have or having more than they already have .
I think we are too self-centred , I explain , we have many difficulties to recognize that we are happy, but I think if we looked toward us all the people who are in need , the one who are involved in the war and who can not go back home , the others who have lost a member of their family because he has been kidnapped... and the one who look for money or leftovers every day in order to eat, we would gradly admitt that we are happy .
That is to say that my own conception of happiness is enough relative . In fact , it may be strange , but to say I'm happy I need to look toward me , in other case I think I wouldn't say that I'm happy .
Otherwise, if I had to give my own definition of happiness, I would say it consists in being in peace with ourselves, namely try to stay faithfull to oneself, try to realize our dreams, help the others as we can , and do in life what we really want and not what the society and the government want we to do because I think the government's values are not the one which enable us to be happy .
I think what happens nowadays in Haiti is a true disaster , and for this reason we have to show solidarity helping this people . I agree with Kristoff when he says that giving may contribute to happiness because we are sensitive people and we don't like seing people suffer even if we don't know them, consequently help them to improve their situation by giving makes us happy .
I'd like to speak about Benjamin Franklin but I don't follow the class of speciality English . I'm in speciality Spanish
To conclude, I think despite all the misfortunes which exist on earth , life choosed us and for this reason gives us the opportunity to fulfill our dreams and goals , so let's try to be happy and do as better as we can !
First, thank you to Mrs Owens and Melanee for this interesting question about happiness! I think it's the most important and interesting subject in the world : Happiness.
ReplyDeleteIf we look at the society, people are living with one and only aim : Be Happy. To achieve this goal they have diffrerent ways and desires : some, think that happiness is equal to money, good job and big house , others, think that happiness is equal to freedom and a simple life full of love with their family, their friends... So even if we have a totally different perception of Happiness , we want to be happy.
In the article, Kristoff makes a comparison between two people who have two opposite way of life. And contrary to what people think nowadays it is not the white man who has got a good job who is the happiest.
It's interesting to read the other comments because it shows that in a same class, 4 people have 4 different visions of happiness.
I think the article shows that it is difficult to find the way to be happy.
There is no book to give the true formula to be happy. Be a hard-worker ? Master in business school? Be virtuous like Benjamin Franklin? We don't really know. I think we try to find our way to achieve our aims but it depends of our culture, our education, our way to see the world and our ambitions in life.
Benjamin Franklin had the vision of a happy life as a virtuous life because in his time period it was the main religious principle. He lived with his time. So, I think that he tried to have a happy life but the fact he had to control his life, his time hour after hour is not my vision of happiness but I can't say that it wasn't his vision of happiness.
I think the only person who can say if you are happy is you! It's a feeling, we can't judge it.
Personnaly, I feel happy in general. I am not happy everyday because sometimes it's hard to forget the tiredness, the disappointments, but I know that contrary to people in Haïti for example, I have a house, I can go to school, I live in a country where my rights are respested ... moreover I love my family, my friends, my bedroom, my country . I know I am lucky and I try to keep this in my mind when I begin to complain because I have no reasons to complain. The only think I want, to be happy in life is to never forget I am a lucky girl. I don't care about the rest... I have to succeed in life to my parents be proud, to give them want they diserve: a wonderful retirment. I truely think I am happy when the people I really Love in my life are happy. Moreover I believe in God,so I think it helps me to be happy.
To conclude I think that life can stop in one second so I make the most of every second of my life, I smile without reason, I do what I want when I want... That's why I think I could not be an American because for me happiness is totally opposed to work. Work is just a mean to achieve my goal.But when I am working, I think to other things, I am in my world, far from the sad reality of catastrophes like in Haiti and the boring life...
Be with my family, look at the sky and the stars, smell the fragrance of a flower, be with my friends, dancing, smile to someone and see someone smile : that is for me all the acts which lead me to Happiness.
Joanna xxx
While reading Melanee's answer I was like bewitched by such truth. I think she has a very optimistic vision of life and maybe we need more people thinking like this.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all,I think Kristoff depicts something true when he says that people SEEM to be happy when they give. Actually, it seems to me that nowadays everything is about "pretending". And of course you give and if you still believe in having a moral living which will allow you to be happy of course you are, yet I don't really think there is people this type left.
However,concerning both Richard and Lorna's lives I would choose none of them even if I stick to the point that the happier is Lorna because she can believe in something and fulfil it while Richard, has everything he wants of course and then? From being rich,stressed and overweight and babysitting I'd choose the seconde issue.
Because Mr Marchal one time quoted us Kurt vonnegut's novel entitled Cat's cradle when he said that "Of all the words of mice and men the saddest are, It might have been". And here is the point where I think Melanee is totally right, I don't want to lead a life just to say on my old days "héy look at all I did, what I learnt, this huge house where my children live... "
I think we should stop being good soldiers and do what life compells us to do even if it's hard and even if I'm actually doing it.
Moreover, about Ben Franklin, I kind of think that he might have been happy because he believed in values and tried to achieve and follox them, therefore perhaps he was really happy because he thought discipline was a way to be happy.
Otherwise Me I do think that I am happy, of course I could be much more but I simply think that happiness stays in living some great moments you can share with your family, friends, or everyone else. Indeed what I particularly think is that you can't be happy when you're alone, you need to share.To conclude, if I had to summarize what happiness means only in three words I would say : Dreaming, Sharing, and Hoping...
Amina said:
ReplyDeleteKristoff thinks that helping people can bring joy in our life more than sex and food and I think it's one way to become happy it depends on people personalities.
For some people happiness is synonym of whealth, sucess, money for others it's only be in god health spend time with our family and live day after day " CARPE DIEM" like Lorna for example.
Everyone has his meaning of the word HAPPINESS and I think that it should mean live in simplicity and live well with the others . Why being rich if you don't have anybody to share with? that's Richard case
I think that it's relaeted with what's happening in our society ( Haiti) because I thnik that they make their possible with what they have if they could have more they will be happy but the make with the few.
I think it's not the quantity which is important but the quality it's like friends if you have onely 2 friends you know that those two will be there in any moment for you.
Besides I think that Benjamin Franklin with his vertues explain to us the minimum we have to do by doing good , believe in a heavenly strenght learn and ork in order to share with those who can afford themselves some knowleges.
Finally I would consider myself as happy because i'm in good health , i'm surrounded with love and every day I learn somthing more about live
Janine
ReplyDeleteEveryone here is right in their definition of happiness and what it constitutes because each person is different, thus, having different criteria for happiness. I agree with Aude that Kristoff does put off happiness as somewhat simplistic, but it's much more than that. Happiness is a feeling that can bring on a variety of emotions on impulse or due to circumstances at the present time. I also feel that there are different forms of happiness that we would not be able to define it even with the help of a dictionary or psychiatrists and the sort.
Melanee, Aude, and the rest bring up great aspects of happiness. I agree with the idea that people aren't happy and content with their lives is the fact that they always compare themselves, conciously or unconciously, with people of "better status." When people do that, to me, it's obvious that they're not going to be happy since they will keep on trying to obtain items they don't need. I feel that it's hard to not compare ourselves to others because we are bombarded every single day by the media or gossip about people and many other distractions. It can be hard to have our own breathing space and have time to ourselves.
To me, being happy encompasses so many different ideas, but the main idea is the present. I don't know how to explain it, but I'm just happy being in the moment which is every single second that I've been alive. There are times when I've felt blase, angry, etc., but I know that during those times a sliver of happiness is somewhere in me because I'm here. I can be nothing and still be happy. I hope you're able to understand this. I don't know if this falls under Taoism, but I know that I was influenced by Winnie-the-Pooh and he helped me to realize so many different things about myself and the world.
Oh! There are also things which can help to "increase" my happiness. Now I really don't know how to explain this. All I know is that I'm off on a tangent. Ah well...
We can look at disasters with distraught but if you really look at it, it could have been worse. Support could be delayed further or the earthquake could have had a higher rating on the richter scale. There are so many different things that could have happened to make the situation worse, plus, we should be happy that one part of the ordeal or the event is over and now the aftermath has to be solved. It can seem naive, but why think negatively about a bad situation. I'd rather try to think positively and act positively towards helping than sulking around.
When I try to remember the information that I had learned in English 5 and 6 last year about Benjamin Franklin and his autobiography, I remember a recent Pre-Calc class about logarithms where a word problem discussed the amount of information a student will retain after two weeks. It was an interesting problem and surprised me that the person didn't retain much of the information, but still it was a problem that contained some facts. Anyway, I remember learning about the Romantic Hero and the American Hero, plus the deists and the sort, but Ben Franklin's "self-made" man consist of the ideals everyone here talked about working. I don't remember much of the details, but I felt that the work he accomplished gave him a sense of purpose and that that brought about his happiness.
Ummmm... Hi?
This is Cindy
ReplyDeleteNowadays everybody desires to be happy .
But what is happiness ?
Contrary to what Kristoff said , namely happiness may be summerized by food, sex and giving, I think these criteria aren't sufficient to make someone happy .
In fact , to me, happiness consists in fulfilling our dreams, achieving our goals , helping the others who have many difficulties by giving , as Kristoff says it in his article, and being the person we want to be .
Contrary to what Mrs Owens thinks about Benjamin Franklin, I don't find happiness only consists in working .
In fact to be printer , philosoph and scientist certainly brings some satisfaction and pride but not happiness because to be happy, we need more than work namely love, success, family, friends ....
But in reality , I think everybody looks for happiness whithout finding it never because IN MY OPINION happiness doesn't exist , it is just a concept that men made up in order to give a sense to their lives .
It is only comparing one's life with the one of the others that we find ourselves less unhappy . For instance , when we look the disaster which happenned in Haïti , we have more tendency to look our life differently and realize how lucky we are .
In my opinion ,men don't view themselves with enough detachment . That's why they never find happiness which is in reality just a fiction .
To me, to be happy is a goal beyond men .
So , we have to do all what we can in order to try to reach happiness .
First, i would say that i agree with stephane when he says that Kristoff doesn't reduce Happiness to sex and food. Indeed, i think he is trying to say that happiness lies in the fact to find satisfaction in helping others people. I disagree with him because i think that helping others people is a way to feel glad in life but it's not the only way.
ReplyDeleteThus , Sophie is also right when she says that some people can feel happy simply being with their family , or friends.
As far as i am concerned, i think that there are as much definition of Happiness as people in the world, my definition of happiness would be do what you really want to do in life,(on this point i agree with Melanee) don't worry about what people think and try to fulfill your dreams. I think that Benjamin Frenklin's autobiography is a good example of this idea because throuhout the whole book we never see him do things that he didn't want to do or things that he is not really interested in, that's why i thinks (even if i did some minor mistakes ) his life was so successful,maybe that's the secret of Happiness , involve n things that you really love.
About myself, i think like stephane , i don't consider that i am someone who reached Happiness, as everyone there sometimes when i feel depressed but i quicky realize that my concerns are minors compared to what peoples like Haitian people are living, and I say to myself come on! your life is pretty beautiful!
Cet article présente selon moi deux conceptions distinctes du bonheur. La première qu’incarne Richard, est fondée sur un niveau de vie décent, obtenu grâce à des moyens financiers, et une réussite professionnelle. La deuxième conception, est représentée elle par la figure de Lorna qui diffère en tout point de Richard car elle appartient à une couche sociale inférieure et qu’à l’inverse de Richard elle est malade.
ReplyDeleteEn analysant ces deux exemples, on aurait tendance à penser que Richard est plus heureux que Lorna. Autrement dit, que Lorna est plus malheureuse que Richard. Pourtant, ce sont deux conceptions de cette chose qu’on cherche tous et qu’on est jamais sûr d’avoir atteint, le bonheur, qui se valent.
Je ne pense pas qu’on puisse donner une matérialisation exhaustive et figée de la notion de bonheur, chacun y allant en effet de son propre commentaire. Toutefois, je crois qu’à toutes les définitions du bonheur qu’on pourrait trouver, il existe ou plutôt il doit exister selon moi un point commun à savoir, l’épanouissement de soi.
En ce qui me concerne, j’avoue que ma conception du bonheur est assez restrictive et ciblée. J’ai du mal par exemple à concevoir qu’on puisse être heureux alors qu’on ne peut pas répondre, satisfaire à ses besoins. C’est ainsi que j’ai du mal à croire les Haïtiens qui me disent qu’ils sont heureux alors que beaucoup d’entre eux vivent dans des conditions déplorables. Comment peut-on être heureux avec moins de un dollar par jour ? De même, comment peut-on être heureux sans avoir accès à l’éducation, aux soins, sans pouvoir accomplir ses desiderata ? Comment peut-on être heureux quand on doit dire non à sa fille qui rêve d’une poupée qu’on ne peut pas lui offrir parce qu’on doit payer le loyer de la « piaule » qui nous sert de toit ?
Pourtant, je me résous à les croire, quand je vois cette lueur dans leurs yeux.
En lisant ce que je viens d’écrire, on aurait tendance à croire qu je ne conçois pas un bonheur sans argent. Il n’es est rien. Il existe en effet des gens qui se sentent heureux parce qu’ils se savent utiles, parce qu’ils sont en bonne santé etc. Mais je crois tout de même que si l’argent ne fait pas le bonheur (ceci est démontrable et vérifiable, on peut être riche et ne pas être épanoui) il y contribue largement dans la plupart des cas. Par exemple, pourrait-on accepter de croire qu’on travaille avant tout pour être heureux ? N’est-ce pas plutôt pour une raison pécuniaire ? Les Américains qui cumulent deux métiers un de jour et un de nuit est-ce pour être heureux ou pour mieux gagner leur vie ? Je crois qu’il faudrait plutôt opter pour la seconde option. En somme, je ne crois pas qu’on puisse être heureux sans un minimum d’argent. Si par exemple on souhaite intégrer une grande école américaine, comme l’a montré l’article de la semaine dernière cela revient excessivement cher, par conséquent qu’est qui nous permettra d’y rentrer, et de faire notre bonheur ? Je suis navrée d’admettre que c’est l’argent.
Néanmoins, je crois qu’il faut souligner que la notion de bonheur est due à un phénomène de comparaison. Nombreux sont ceux qui ces derniers temps disent « quand je vois ce qui se passe en Haïti je peux m’estimer heureux ». Mais le bonheur, est-ce se comparer à l’autre pour se rendre compte qu’on l’a véritablement ? En effet si on se compare, à quelqu’un qui vit dans des conditions décentes, qui a un travail honorable qui lui permet de s’épanouir, qui a une famille unie,bref tout ce qui selon moi constituent des piliers du bonheur, dira-t-on toujours que l’on est heureux ? Je pense donc qu’il faut qu’on fasse de son bonheur une affaire personnelle et non pas se comparer aux autres pour l’évaluer.
ReplyDeleteJe finirai en disant que je conçois mal que quelqu’un qui vit comme un ermite sur une île déserte ou qui s’adonne corps et âme à son travail soit véritablement heureux. Le bonheur passe selon moi par des échanges, des sorties, la découverte d’autres cultures, les plaisirs, l’intérêt pour l’autre, des moments de détente entre amis ainsi que tout ce que j’ai pu citer auparavant. Ceux qui ne le font pas ratent selon moi quelque chose.
Le travail constitue en effet un élément primordial mais je crois que pour être heureux il faut y adjoindre d’autres activités pour atteindre son plein épanouissement.
Toutefois, je voudrais rappeler que l’une des conditions essentielles du bonheur est le choix, il me semble important de choisir son destin, choisir ses études, choisir le mode de vie qu’on veut mener et non pas se laisser imposer les choses. Je crois que c’est le défaut majeur de ceux qui se disent malheureux…Il faut se donner le moyen d’être heureux...
What does Kristoff think we need to be happy? Do you agree or disagree?
ReplyDeleteHe thinks to be happy we must help others and work on things that require socializing. I agree because when I volunteer in the hospital I felt great and continue to volunteer because I was happy doing it. I guess selfless acts make us feel great inside because we sacrifice time for others.
How does this relate to our world both our local, daily every day lives and what is going on in Haiti?
This relates to our lives because many people are unhappy because they work for their own sake not for others. This relates to Haiti because by helping those out you feel their happiness even if you donate a little bit.
How does this relate to Benjamin Franklin?
This relates to him because in his autobiography we can see that he takes more pleasure working all day than eating. He was a happy worker and we must try to live a life like him if we can’t happiness.
How does this relate to you? Do you consider yourself happy? Why or why not?
This relates to my daily activities and goals because I work for my success. The path I choose to reach my goal will determine my happiness. I work hard to strive for a job to help others so that I will be happy. I’m happy because I’m working to that goal of helping others while trying to help people along the goal.
-Kazi period 8