I wonder if life really is better for the beautiful people.

We live in a society that tells us washboard abs and a sports car lead us to happiness. Do they? I’m guessing not. It seems eventually the daily monotonous grind of life leaves most of us in a slump looking forward the weekend or reflecting on it depending what day it is. So is life meant to be lived the 28% of the time we aren’t at work?

I’ve had the pleasure of being unemployed and I have to say that is miserable. I would think it would come from the lack of funds. If I had money and no obligations, I’d travel. But even that would get old eventually. So if riches, good looks and tons of leisure time doesn’t necessarily = happiness… what does? It seems most of the things in life that bring joy are both fleeting and dangerous.

Ask a smack junkie what happiness is and they’ll tell you it is the few seconds when your blood begins the sweet dance with the heroin you just injected. I once would have told you happiness comes in a red and white box and makes you wake up coughing in the morning. These are all self destructive answers. I suspect even the marathon runners of the world are deriving a good chunk of their pleasure in making themselves hurt and in the process grinding their body into the ground.

So maybe the key to happiness is just that. Happiness comes from things that in some way are probably not good for you. So while we should all be cautious to find the middle way, some people will still find what they need to get through the day in their new found faith. They’ll turn a blind eye to the fact they joined a cult. Still others will have promiscuous condom-less sex for the several second release it gives them. They choose to ignore that burning rash. Whatever your poison is it isn’t likely something that will leave you elated 24/7. If that actually existed then elation would become mundane. Thus even if happiness was available around the clock eventually happiness itself would no longer have any meaning.

Now go take a smoke break.