Where Lies Happiness?

In America, we have been taught through the family, the school, the popular media, that we are a “competitive society,” and that everything worth pursuing is a contest. Win the contest, and you’re “a winner.” Lose it, and you’re “a loser.” To be a Winner produces a fleeting, evanescent thrill. You need another “fix” to keep your “joy juices” flowing. Conversely, to be a Loser means that your life is worthless, and that you are condemned to a miserable existence with no point, no joy, no satisfaction.

These points stem from the subliminal, incessant messages of advertising, the means of commodifying consumer goods — and, ultimately, consumers — for the sake of the Almighty Dollar, which we worship with the fervor the pre-Mosaic Israelites reserved for Ba’al.

In American society, we are measured by our income and our social status. We don’t think about the things that bring about fundamental happiness, such as true friendships, relating with people as equals, focusing on things we all share in common. Instead, we think about our trophy wives (or husbands); our position on the Income Tree; our social status. We project our social status as often as possible, because that’s how we believe we have “arrived” at some mythical point on the Journey to Happiness. The more social clout we have, the more value we think we have.