Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.
Wilfred Grenfell
Man’s pursuit of happiness is as old as man himself; he has been driving himself crazy over this elusive quest since he first learned to reason. However, the answer to this seemingly mind-boggling question is rather simple.
From time immemorial, philosophers have looked at happiness as a state of mind. However, the materialistic world we presently inhabit prefers to see it as something that can be purchased. We often say that money can’t buy happiness, but we fail to incorporate this simple fact into our lives. Don’t get us wrong – there is nothing wrong with making money, so long as one sees it as a means to an end. The moment we start looking at wealth as a doorway to eternal bliss, we begin our descent to a life of dejection and gloom. The harder we strive to fill our pockets, the deeper we sink into the morass of misery. Unfortunately, instead of dissuading us from giving up on this ill-perceived notion, this disappointment makes us believe that we probably didn’t deserve to be happy in the first place. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.
You see, we are all born with a common purpose – that of making this world a better place. Of course, there is no one right way of doing that. A doctor proves his utility by relieving people of their ailments while a musician soothes a troubled soul; a policeman serves as the society’s protector while an artist brings the vivid emotions known to man alive on a piece of paper. And therein lies the secret to true, long-lasting joy.
Wilfred Grenfell was a British missionary to Newfoundland. Grenfell once said: “Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.”