One day, after a salesclerk said, “Have a nice day,” I turned towards her with my bleakest expression and replied, “Thank you, but I have other plans.”
When I bought a couple tomatoes from her later, she said, “Have a good one,” and I tried again, asking, “Which is the bad one. It went right past her.
We use many clichés in polite, civilized society. I see them as a lubricant that makes interactions flow more smoothly. Telling someone, “Have a good day,” acknowledges them and beats nothing. It is one small way to lift our National Happiness Quotient.
The British government studies national happiness numbers seriously, interpreting them as signs of how political parties in power are doing.
When drops, opposition parties in Parliament gang up to keep it plummeting, the better to win the next election. Meanwhile, the party in power tries to lift it and future vote numbers.
I don’t think it’s government’s duty to make us happy. Our Declaration of Independence calls “pursuit of happiness” an inalienable right endowed by the Creator, but I’ve not seen “happy” appear in the Constitution.
The Fed has enough to do without creating a Wellbeing and Happiness Department. Defending borders, repairing roads, making sure mail arrives on time and seeing to it all have true justice should be plenty to keep them busy. I’d be happier if they did basic jobs better.
It is our responsibility to figure out our happiness. As long as you don’t break laws or cause harm to yourself and/others, that decision should be up to you.
The 1938 film “You Can’t Take It With You” was populated by eccentrics and unhappy fuddy-duddies. There were two old guys who liked making fireworks in the basement and sending them up through the chimney, a no-talent ballerina, mother who kept switching from novelist to painter, and grandpa, who thought sitting through college commencement speeches made for a delightful afternoon. It taught tolerance for others who are a bubble or two off-center.
It takes being intentional to be happy. One summer decades ago, I tacked a sign “Chairman of the Bored” to my bedroom door.
“It’s up to you,” said my father, on seeing it, “to figure out how to not be.”
I can’t force you or anyone else to be happy. The government can’t do it either. We alone are responsible for doing the work to find inner joy, then take action.
A few years ago a TV commercial showed kids bored, unhappy and uninspired while spending a rainy afternoon with their grandmother.
Then Granny invited them to don rain gear, go outside and join her stomping in and splashing rain puddles. The children joined in and almost instantly they were laughing and having a good time..
Granny did not make them children happy; she provided an opportunity for them to become happy.
The Declaration arose from American colonists wanting to give England’s King George III the boot so they had right to pursue their own happiness. We won; it’s our duty to pursue it.
Happiness improves the world from the ground up; there’s no voodoo economics trickle down from the top. It makes you a nicer person, more willing to speak to someone else or take an interest in what he or she is doing. That makes them feel better. It benefits everyone.
I enjoy figuring out the next thing I can do to make people who see me coming down the street ask themselves, “What’s that old geezer up to this time?”
Coming up with ideas keeps our brains working, which is good for us as well.