America

America has a fatal flaw flowing from the Declaration of Independence. I consider that flaw the motto "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Life and Liberty? Great.

"Pursuit of Happiness"? For most of my life I tried pursuing happiness, never to catch it. I have found that the harder I chase, the further away happiness gets.

I learned that if I stop chasing and sit down then I find happiness living inside me. By thinking that happiness existed outside of myself and I could catch it, I alienated myself from happiness.

I think America should use a new motto: "Life, Liberty, and the Discovery of Happiness Within."

I find it strange how much wealth Americans have and yet how little satisfaction, contentment, happiness. I find that our culture motivates us to stay unhappy, to stay constantly in a state of craving the next pursuit, never to actually catch happiness. Never to rest and consider if we should keep running. Just keep running, we have to pay rent. Just keep running, find another job. Just keep running, catch that happiness.

No. Once we know where to look, we can find happiness pervades the entirety of our existence. We shine happiness out into the world. We act as the lamp of happiness. When we light our lamp, everything we cast our light on reflects the illumination of our happiness.

Let us learn from Lady Liberty and hold up our own torches of illumination, having found the fire of joy within our hearts.