My 5-year old kiddo asked me the other night “daddy, what gives people happiness?”
It’s probably the first time I’ve been asked that kind of open-ended question on a topic with that kind of depth and so first paternal instinct was to be pretty darn proud that our little guy is thinking in those terms at a time when there’s so much division in the world. But no time to stop and smell the roses when you have to do your best to answer something that entire books have been written on in a few words. Even though I wanted to say “asking your father a question just like that one” my answer was “it means so many different things to different people but most people feel happiness when they help other people, do good things for them and share. ” Its something I’ve slowly learned over time and continue to work on and any chance to pass along that message early in life is something to be thankful for. After confirming that video games also make some people happy, that was that to be revisited at a later date ;)
On that topic and on sharing, Riverview School sent out this morning a little pic and note that emphasizes happiness’ close cousin kindness and its place in schools and by extension our community:
You can look at the full image for their “10 ways to start 2019 with kindness”, which include “Compliment 5 people,” “Step up for someone in need” and “say thank you to patrols.”
I’ve noticed the same type of thing on the walls of the school that I drop kiddo off at and it all really speaks to the idea that our places of learning are doing a pretty darn great job at working to do their part in raising quality human beings.
Now off to get a little shopping done, I have a few more smiles to go if i'm going to get to 25 ;)