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Do you get the sense that gloom weighs heavily on the planet?
© by Mike Keenan 
As Christmas season descends with its white flakes, I've been thinking hard about the concepts of peace, happiness and joy. It's supposed to be a festive period and one of celebration as the New Year approaches, providing yet another opportunity to make temporary resolutions to live a better life. However, for many, there is not much to be happy about as therapists will attest. Indeed, with the monetary crisis, an environmental crisis and throw a few of your very own into the brew, it's a recipe for Steinbeck's winter of discontent.
I decided to look for wisdom from other nations to see if they could shed some light on the predicament. The third world, the impoverished group of nations who are economically far behind us must have learned important insights about happiness. From the Republic of Congo, I beheld this proverb: "A bald-headed man cannot grow hair by getting excited about it." As my hair thins and disappears, I don't get excited. Rather, I gaze at others my age endowed with far fewer fickle follicles than me, and I think, well, at least I have outlasted them, but it looks like we will all be in the follicle deficit boat pretty soon. My barber seems relaxed about it. He adroitly manages to take the same amount of time to cut less and less hair, so it's a bit of an optical illusion. I think barbers learn to be compassionate as they ply their trade. You never hear a barber say as you arrive, "Whoa, I can finish you off with three scissor cuts" or "Hey, why don't you use a bowl? It would save us both some time." So much for the Congo. Perhaps an emerging power. China says: "Happy owner, happy cat; indifferent owner, reclusive cat." I like this proverb; it's got some zip to it and it rhymes. I'm going to watch friends' cats a little closer to check its validity. From what I have observed thus far, most cat owners must be miserable. The Chinese also say, "A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy." This is probably an exaggeration. I think it should be a year. Scots contend that "what makes one abbot glad makes another abbot sad." This is certainly true in the realm of competition and explains why Buffalo is such a sad city. You have winners and then you have Buffalo. Four NFL Super Bowls and like the heads of old men, nothing to show. Belgium comes to the rescue with, "Happy nations have no history." I suppose that's another way of saying, "No pain, no gain." In Bulgaria, "Two happy days are seldom brothers." Do you get the sense that gloom weighs heavily on the planet? Even romantic France says, "A satisfied heart will often sigh." When the French are madly in love, full of amour, they sound like Sarah Palin backers in the Republican Party. The French, being dramatic, also advance the idea that "Joy and courage make a handsome face." We have to tough it out, n'est-ce-pas? Leave it to Germany to reduce the problem to its core: "Those who have only one bow should be content with one fiddle." Damn; I don't own even a single bow. When I was a kid, my parents gave me a harmonica, a decision they soon rued, and it mysteriously disappeared not long after I had composed and mastered some beautiful pieces. In England, "A contented mind is a continual feast." This is an important distinction that the Brits make. If everything is A-OK in the noggin, then each day is a piece of cake. It's how we think that makes something good or bad. Our daughter will vouch for his proverb. She has never seen people poorer yet happier than in Africa. It's all in the head. The last piece of wisdom comes from the USA and helps explain the last eight years: "If ignorance is bliss, why be otherwise?" Have a blissful holiday season and please don't think too hard. |
