Happiness is defined as the state of well-being and
contentment. Happy is derived from the old English word “hap” meaning to have
good (or bad) fortune and “-y” having the quality of. Likewise, the word “happen”
also has the same origins. I believe that happiness depends on what happens. I
believe that we can never be happy for the sake of being happy. With that being
said, I do believe that anyone can experience joy no matter their situation.
Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Joy is happiness,
but happiness is not joy. What I means by that is someone can be joyful even if
nothing good seems to happen. Being “happy” is being content or “okay” with the
outcome of something. Nowhere in the definition of joy do you see anything about
contentment or having the satisfaction of something, because joy goes beyond
that. Joy can (or not) include being content with something. Happiness happens only
at the surface, but joy goes far beyond that. Abraham Lincoln once said,
“People are just as happy as they make their minds to be.” What Lincoln is
saying that happiness occurs in our mind, and ultimately we choose whether we
want to be happy or not. However, Sai Baba said, “Joy needs no object; it is
our own nature.” He is saying that joy does not need a cause, it is within in us
and occurs whenever. According to Aristotle, poor people cannot be happy. I
disagree with that. I believe that poor people can be happy and I believe that
they can also experience joy. I do not believe that people can experience
happiness for the sake of itself, but I do believe that anyone can experience or
have joy for the sake of itself.
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ReplyDeleteI love the title and I do somewhat agree with your post. I believe happy can be a mindset under certain circumstances. For example, a poor person can not truly be happy because they have too many worries. Statistics show that many poor people endure psychological issues because of their lifestyle. However, I do believe that a person can be extremely optimistic in a tough situation that may lead to their happiness. A poor person can have an positive mindset, but they still have extreme worries everyday. All of these worries and stress can lead to them being unhappy.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree with the sentiment that poor people can have joy in their lives. For most it is probably a fleeting feeling and not something that will last. The worries and fears that plague them will come back no matter what moment of happiness or joy they can have. This can lead to them being pessimistic no matter what joy comes into a persons life because it will always be chased out. So, I do not believe that poor people can experience either joy or happiness for the sake of itself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post that joy is happiness, but happiness is not joy. However, I disagree with your point about poor people can be happy. A person is never truly happy if they are in need of something. The definition of happy is feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc. A person cannot be happy if they have to worry about their next meal or if they are going to have a roof over their head. Even if the person was to find $1,000 on the ground one day then they are not truly happy because they will have the worry of being poor until the situation changes. I agree with Aristotle, that a person is never happy until they do not feel like they need anything else. If a person feels that they do not have friends and need them then they are not truly happy. Happiness is based on a person's needs in life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the sentiments about joy. I thought that was an insightful observation that all joy means happiness but not all happiness means joy. When it comes to the statement that poor people can't be happy, I'm on the fence as to whether I agree with that or not. Really good points were made about this belief in class. I think it would all depend on how you would want to define poor. Someone may seem poor to us from our culture because of the way they live or look. But in that person's culture, living that way may be completely normal and they may be completely happy the way they are. I thought this was a really insightful and well written post.
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