Article February 3, 1968 ISSUE

The Search for Happiness

MARGARITA B. HESMONDHALGH

No matter how drastically modern technology improves human conditions, no matter what the gain in standards of living, in increased leisure, in opportunities for enlightenment, travel, entertainment, each of us must still find the answer to the questions: How can I be happy? How can I find my way out of the difficulties of my life? There is a persistent yearning for a better state of affairs, an instinctive feeling that frustration and defeat are not the predestined end of man, a longing to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start.

Often a human being seeks for the answer by looking to another to supply what he needs; and just as often lie finds disillusionment, failure, and unhappiness. At times one catches oneself thinking: "If only I had better health, better looks, more free time, more money; if only I were younger; if only I had a better background" —as though, if these requirements could be supplied, life would begin again at a higher level. We can rarely make a fresh start except from the precise point where we are; and what we need in order to do it is not a miracle but a changed point of view.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

THE WRONG AND THE RIGHT