Tuesday march 15 2011

Philosophical not funny......

Smart, successful, happy and good. If asked this question, which trait would you say you wanted to be or is most important to be? My rabbi, in front of an entire congregation(which I don't hold against him because I am a huge fan of his...)asked son #1 and son #2 this question. They both responded "happy"....and were then told that "good" is the correct answer.

Being. a "good" person is more important than being "happy". Well, I think I have to disagree. I don't think you can be truly good, unless you are truly happy. Now I know this debate can go on and on, and perhaps the real answer needs to be that they are mutually exclusive but, this is my thinking.....

There are so many "good" people, people who volunteer their time for various causes, give their money to many charities...who happen to suck as human beings. They are terrible friends, mean and nasty horrible ugly people who, for the most part, must not be happy or they would be kind. So what does being "good" really mean? Are you a good person because you do good deeds, which makes you look good to the public, but are poopies in terms of everyday life? (poopie being a technical term, of course) My rabbi tried to explain that when you do good things, the chemicals released from those actions make you feel happy...and I told him that those chemicals are only released after exercise or eating sugar (I didn't mention a third activity because he is a rabbi after all, and I needed to exercise some editing mechanisms...)

But if you are a happy person, for the most part(you could also just be a happy idiot who walks around just being clueless and drinking a lot, no, I am not talking about myself..) you want to do good things because it's part of your nature, yes, I know there are happy selfish people,
but at least they smile and try to make others feel happy...and if those others are made to feel happy, perhaps they will do good things...see my point?

Bottom line is that I was happy my kids answered "happy" because I always tell them that aside from being healthy, which is first and foremost, I want them to be happy. So, even if the rabbi told them they were wrong(which I respectfully disagree with) at least I know they listen to me.......and that makes me very happy!