Unhappiness in America

This article from the the U.K., written by a self described "very bad Roman Catholic", explains the difference between the "pursuit of happiness" and the "right to be happy" and why this makes a difference. Many of our current problems in this area came from the 60's and folks who thought Christian living restrained people from true happiness and acted to destroy the importance of the Christian life in what they thought was the pursuit of happiness. Now, that people realize all the problems this has caused, they have forgotten about how Christian living contributed to the "good life" in the first place.

"The paradox is that if you think of life as a series of duties (as she always has) - and of happiness as an undeserved blessing, rather than a right - you are likely to be much happier than if you think happiness is yours by right.

That's a sense that most of my generation have lost, if we ever had it.

All the emphasis, since the liberal reforms of the 1960s, has been on replacing Christian duties with human rights.

In the process, I believe, we have diminished the stock of human happiness rather than increasing it."

from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1038461/Last-rites-dear-old-mum-bedside-farce-rights-culture-robs-happiness.html

Teaching the child that happiness comes from the pursuit and is not handed to you without effort is why we're planning to home school the kid. It's also a contributing factor towards having a garden and living where we do. It provides the child a chance to work with his hands.

He's less than two years old, and he can vacuum the stairs, pull weeds, identify Canadian thistles, pick grapes, and fetch tools. Labor, using the hands and mind, is a useful tool in the pursuit of happiness.

That is the way God made us and there is not much use in fighting it, contrary to what socialists would have you believe.