The Pursuit Of Happiness Essay - 1315 Words

The Pursuit of Happiness vs. the Pursuit of Meaning â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.† As you know these words come from the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the greatest documents ever written. However, I do have a little problem with the last four words sentence, â€Å"the pursuit of Happiness† because I believe it actually sends an easily misinterpreted message. With the Christmas, slash, Holiday season upon us we must be cognizant that not everyone will have a Merry Christmas and that the Holiday Season, Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day, is also the height of the Suicide and Domestic Violence Season. Recently, we have been touched by suicide, not only in our geographical local, but within our Christian community. More people than we would care to admit within our church have or will seriously contemplate, attempt or commit this act, but Why? Depression and even thoughts of ending it all are something I have some experience with. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, possibly the most influential and powerful preacher of the Gospel of 19th century England battled depression throughout his entire life. In fact, after a tragedy at a venue where he was preaching in which seven people were killed, Spurgeon said â€Å"he doubted anyone had ever passed as close to madness as he and yetShow MoreRelatedThe Pursuit of Happiness Essay584 Words   |  3 PagesFor our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five-year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress. Chris Gardner excels at his stockbroker internship in Dean-Witter, earning the attention and respect from his superiors. However, hisRead MorePursuit Of Happiness Essay1309 Words   |  6 PagesThe Pursuit of Happiness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardeners life that anyone has the opportunity to make their own pursuit of happiness if they have self-motivation and determination. Happiness is not something that can be pursued. We already have all the capacity for happiness that we need. Happiness comes from within, and from being content with oneself. People can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. But to be happy or to be sad they need to have particular motivationRead MoreThe Futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay1053 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness† When it comes to predicting how something will make you feel in the future, you will most likely be wrong. In the book Discovering Pop Culture, edited by Anna Romasino, is the article â€Å"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness†. In the article, author Jon Gertner talks about how people think certain things bring them happiness but aren’t as fulfilling as they may think. Gertner gives examples by writing about four men that have been questioning how people predict whatRead More The Pursuit Of Happiness in A Raisin in the Sun Essay1971 Words   |  8 Pagescome with the fulfillment of this American Dream. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, each family member has their own pursuit of happiness, which is accompanied by their American Dream. In the play, Mama has her own American Dream that she chases after, which heavily affects the family’s state of being. Mama has to go through many struggles and much frustration while in pursuit of her American Dream (Bloom 17). Mama says, â€Å"Yes, death done come in this house here†¦.Done come walking in myRead MoreEssay on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness620 Words   |  3 Pagesan excellent job of explaining why the colonies are doing the things they are doing, and is very clear in stating what he and his associates think are the â€Å"unalienable rights† of the American people. Among these are â€Å"Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.† Probably one of the most famous lines in American history, I have chosen to focus on this phrase and what those three things might have meant to Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers as they prepared this document, as well as whatRead More Response to The Futile Pursuit of Ha ppiness, by Jon Gertner Essay865 Words   |  4 Pages The Futile Pursuit of Happiness by Jon Gertner was published in September of 2003. It is an essay that discusses the difference between how happy we believe we will be with a particular outcome or decision, and how happy we actually are with the outcome. The essay is based on experiments done by two professors: Daniel Gilbert and George Loewenstein. The experiments show that humans are never as happy as we think we will be with an outcome because affective forecasting and miswanting causeRead More Is Violence in Pursuit of Happiness Justified? Essay example1173 Words   |  5 PagesHe was looking for a more involved position against injustice. Malcolm suggested the violence on favor of self-defense was necessary. He debated at the Oxford Union debate in 1964: â€Å"extremism in defence of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue†. To make it clear, Malcolm X did not expressly advocate for violence, he only proposed it as a self-defence, i n case the whites use violence against blacks. He justified that right, the right to defend yourself which is totallyRead MoreA Reflection on God, Life and the Pursuit of Happiness Essay2074 Words   |  9 Pagesone realized that the past and future have duration but no existence and the present, which does not endure in time, seems to exist! So what is time? -As far as happiness is concerned remember that it is only experienced in the inner part of yourself. Happiness is a mind phenomenon related to one’s relation with the TRUTH only. Happiness is not related to time but to your present life and its understanding. You may be temporary happy, because of particular events, but it won’t last unless you understandRead MorePursuit of Happiness in Edith Whartons Novel, Ethan Frome Essay749 Words   |  3 PagesWhile everyone is legally intitled to the pursuit of happiness, the truth of the matter is that very few ever achieve it. OneÂ’s morals, standards, conscious, or perhaps even fate, keep them from accepting a pure form of satisfaction. While a person can search and struggle their entire life for happiness, the truth of the matter is, that they will never be happy with what they have infront of them. The character Ethan, portrayed in Edith Whartons novel, Ethan Frome, is emotionally weak, he battlesRead MoreMba Case Stud y Chris Gardner Pursuit of Happiness Essay1069 Words   |  5 PagesSaur [pic]10SP - MG630 152 Org. Behavior Leader. 21st (Monday) June 21, 2010 The story of Chris Gardner, a man with vision, a role model to his son and a classical example of how a homeless man with a child can exert himself from being poor to become one of the most outstanding man who successes, and go above and beyond what people think of him. In describing Chris Gardner personality traits, I would say it consist of the fact that he very aggressive ambitious and loyal to his son.