The Vegemite Sandwich Yeah G’day Once again thanks to the readers for the feedback. One local reader after reading my article on laughter questioned whether it was possible to be happy all the time. Hmmm uninterrupted happiness… Who would want that? In a short story by Mark Twain ‘The Mysterious Stranger’, two young boys are playing on a riverboat outside of town when Satan appears as an angel, and offers to grant them a wish. Downstream they see an old bloke, who has suffered long and hard, as everyone in the town knows. So the boys point to him and tell the angel their wish… to make him completely happy. Some time later the boys find out that the old bloke has completely lost his senses, he is now a lunatic, a smiling ‘idiot’. Back on the riverbank, the angel appears and the boys confront him angrily. ‘But’ responds the angel ‘I did grant your wish! How else could anyone be totally happy in this life?’ See there is no uninterrupted happiness, no perfect peace. Ironically, whatever peace there might be comes from accepting the good and bad nature of who we are, as well as the lucky and unlucky quality of our lives. ‘Ya got to have the pits to appreciate the peaks’ grandma used to say. If you’re interested in ‘The Mysterious Stranger’ it’s a good read and can be found easily on the net. If you’re looking for me you can visit my web page at www.oocities.org/wombatswazza or email me at gdayphil@hotmail.com I’ll get out of your way now See you on ‘The Middle Path’ Phil |
Article 3 Uninterrupted Happiness |
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