SENTINEL WATCH July 15, 2002 Issue

Is it OK to be happy?

By J. Thomas Black

IN this spiritual journey millions of us are on, I've recently heard people wonder out loud if it's OK to be happy even in these tumultuous times. To be cheerful, glad—something like a little child. To skip a bit, instead of walk. To whistle or hum to ourselves. To have a feeling that things are going to work out, that the bad stuff is not going to prevail. Is that OK?

Or, on the other hand, do you and I have a moral obligation to be melancholy? Maybe sad or heavy. Considering the world's circumstances, is that being more thoughtful of others and being more honest with ourselves?

The mail carrier who delivers to my office building said she cries on Thursdays. She has a tender heart, and loves to express it in sympathy for others. So she does it every Thursday. A lot of folks these days believe that's the more natural way to be. They feel that sustained happiness dishonors the world's suffering or is naÏve. Grievous news is in front of us constantly. If it's not a suicide bomber, a kidnapping, or some disease in the headlines, it may be a crisis in our own lives. Since 9/11, evil has been thought by many to be unavoidable.