Happiness

CSA-GK Village, Taguig
28 October 2011
nixasis

I browsed through old albums yesterday when I stumbled upon this photo. I snapped this shot roughly a year ago, when Mrs. Trinidad, her students and I went to the CSA-GK Village for a house-building project. The children's smiles greeted us when we entered the site. Their warm welcome made the heat bearable and motivated us to accomplish the herculean task ahead. Click this link for more on the project: House-building

Looking at this photo, I feel a slight pang of jealousy. Children have it easy. They jump for joy over the simplest things. I couldn't remember the last time I was enveloped with immeasurable glee--that genuine feeling of childlike elation which lifts you up from the dreary shadows of the everyday. Sadly, I have forgotten how to view the world through a child's eyes. Sadly, I have forgotten how it is to be happy.

According to Charlie Brown, happiness is...

                               finding a pencil
                               knowing a secret
                               telling the time

How would I define bliss then?

If I were a child, I would be able to answer this in a jiffy. Chocolate! Patintero! Batibot! But now that I'm in my late 20s, the answer seems out of reach. Happiness now is...

                               ahhh...
                               uhm....
                               hmm...

Well, I'm still figuring it out. Adulthood makes this question more complex than it truly is.

Could contentment be found in the acceptance of not knowing what is? Probably. There could be temporary comfort in that.