Some people associate happiness with sunshine (hello Mr. Trudeau… with your promised “sunny ways“).
For some, happiness may be memories of snow and warmth by the fire… Perhaps with family, friends, or lovers?
For many, immeasurable sources of life happiness stem from their children, grand-children, nephews/nieces, or young kids/youth they love as educators… Bambi is using the latter in its broadest sense since we are all “educators” in the “village” that “it takes to raise a child“.
Yet for others their perceived or aspired happiness may be their illusion of power… or their wealth.
Others can easily tell that their happiness is in (and because of) love… or because of their faith in a creator… and/or in humanity too. Who knows? Perhaps the capacity to have faith and to nurture it may be related to the art of being in love with life (in its broadest sense), to give and hopefully to receive back love.
And what about moments of peace of mind, and even joy, despite a less optimal health or despite another adversity?
What about hope now and what is its role in happiness?
Is hope an antidote to unhappiness… or a free-of-charge, ecological fuel of sustainable happiness?
How can individuals keep their hope alive and be happy when they live in countries where they lack dignity and basic needs?
Bambi is thinking specifically of Lebanon… and of Afghanistan. Yes, both countries are now last in the list of “happiest countries” in a UN-funded study, according to L’Orient Le Jour. Can you imagine Lebanon that low?
Bravo to Finland (happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row). Good results also for Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Good progress for Serbia, Bulgaria, and Roumania, it seems. The worst results are in Lebanon, Venezuela, and Afghanistan (https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1294054/la-finlande-pays-le-plus-heureux-liban-et-afghanistan-derniers.html).
With all due respect to Afghanistan, Lebanon’s results are far from being glorious.
How could its people be happy when they struggle to survive on a daily basis?
Let’s think of some examples of changes in people’s lives in Lebanon. For instance, the last time Bambi took a service-taxi in Beirut, it was in December 2019 during her last trip there. For LBP1000, you could go anywhere you wish from point A to point B (yes, this is less than CAD $0.83, at least on March 18, 2022). Today, it is over LBP40,000. Taxi and van drivers are also struggling like their clients (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lebanons-taxi-bus-van-drivers-block-roads-protest-82619547).
Another example of hardship to the people of Lebanon is that supermarkets now require a payment in cash money (credit or debit cards not allowed, it seems). People do not have access to their own savings or enough money… so imagine cash money!
Anyhow, to cheer us up from this survey, Bambi will conclude this post devoted to happiness (from a micro to a macro level) by sharing a French song she adores. It is by Mr. Christophe Maé and it is called “Il est où le bonheur [Where is Happiness?] You can read an English translation following the song. Enjoy… and may everyone be merry (depending on his or her definition of happiness :)].
Where is the happiness? (translation taken from: https://lyricstranslate.com):
“Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
I’ve made love, I’ve played in the streets
I waited to be happy
I’ve sung songs, I’ve made children
I’ve done my best
I’ve pouted, I’ve pretended
You do what you can
I’ve fooled around, it’s true; I’ve partied, yeah!
I thought I was happy
But, there are all these nights without mates
When no one rings, or comes
It’s Sunday night, in the fleet
Like a fool in his bath
Trying to drown it, but it floats
This f**ing sorrow
So I sing my most beautiful notes
And it will be better tomorrow
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
The happiness is there, it is there!
It is there!
The happiness is there, It is there!
It is there!
I’ve courted, I’ve made my circus
I’m waiting to be happy
I’ve played the clown, it’s true I’ve done nothing
But that went no better
I’ve done well, I’ve made mistakes
You do what you can
I’ve been foolish, I’ve had some crazy laughs, yeah
I thought I was happy
But there are all these Christmas eves, where they smile politely
to protect you from the cruel life
All this laughter of children
And these empty chairs that remind us
What life brings [takes from] us
So, I sing to myself my most beautiful notes
It was better before
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
The happiness is there, it is there!
It is there!
Where is the happiness, it is there!
It is there!
It is a candle, the happiness
Don’t laugh too hard by the way
You risk putting it out
You want the happiness, yeah, you want it!
Everyone wants to achieve it
But it doesn’t make a noise, happiness, no, it makes no noise
No, it makes none of it
Happiness is stupid, yeah, because it’s often afterwards you realise
That it was there
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
Where is the happiness, where is it?
Where is it?
The happiness is there, it is there!
It is there!
Where is the happiness, it is there!
It is there!
But, where is the happiness?
Where is the happiness?
Where is it?
Where is it?
But, where is the happiness?
But it is there!
The happiness, it is there, it is there
And it is there!
The happiness, it is there, it is there”.
It is a candle, the happiness
Don’t laugh too hard by the way
You risk putting it out
I like this image of happiness being a candle. Happiness is a light, brings illumination to a dark place. But it has to be protected from the wind. Still it is there, and it is real. And even if extinguished by the wind, the flame of the candle can be lighted again
Wow– this a very beautiful and clever image. Bambi likes the idea of happiness as a candle. Thank you, Achim.