Happiness
Posted on | September 11, 2009 | 1 Comment
Tonight I went to see The Garden, an excellent documentary about a 14-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles. I remembered following the news stories about it when the struggle to keep the garden had come to a boil. I won’t say more because I urge you to see it; I never knew what ultimately happened, but the film, which was begun in 2003, brings you up to mid-2008. Seeing this story unfold in my beloved hometown not far from where I grew up I was reminded of the distance I have put between myself and the place and people I love, my ideals, etc., for various reasons, some good, some less so. I used to do more. In a lot of respects. I have been very conscious of the way in which my activism, such as it ever was, seems non-existent these days. The cheap excuse (and I’m sure the one which many cite) is burnout. It’s really devastating working for change that never happens, and sadly really easy to look out for one’s own interests because it’s easier, and/or just do nothing but sign Internet petitions until even that becomes something you’ll get to later because you’ve heard they don’t really accomplish anything, anyway. How did I wash up here, I wonder, and how do I move back toward what’s important?
The opening short film was Never Turning Back about amazing “artist, book illustrator, political activist, labor unionist, feminist, pacifist, humanist” Peggy Lipschutz, about whom I hadn’t known though of course, watching it, I felt I surely should have. In it, Pete Seeger says that the happiest people he’s ever known have been people who are struggling, because they have something that they are fighting for, something they are working to change. That resonated with me profoundly as I struggle to find, well, meaning in this life. For now it eludes me.
Earlier today I received a fortune (I absolutely love fortunes; I’ve saved virtually everyone I’ve gotten for the last 20+ years) that read:
The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more.
I think it’s one of the truest fortunes I’ve ever gotten.
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May 24th, 2010 @ 1:27 am
Happiness is a state of mind that really depends how we see the situations in our lives each day. you can have all the riches in the world but still see it as a lonely place.–”