There are times when laughter doesn't feel real and joy is out of reach. Times where happiness seems so scarce. You wonder, is something wrong with me. As humans, we have good days and bad days and a society like mine where economical challenges, financial crises and burdens can strip the joy off of someone. Rather than being happy, you feel frustrated, miserable and sad. You work so hard but get so little for your hard work.
In those moments, I sometimes reflect, an opportunity to purchase happiness could really do us some great good. No need to continue faking a joy you don't feel deeply. It would be like an automatic joy you'll get when you take one dose of it. Let's say, a happiness pill sold everywhere, in the market, shops, around your streets etc. It would be available for all. People with sickness like depression, loneliness, anxiety and what have you, would have a solution to their problem. Life could be more sweeter that way.
But on the other side, would it still truly be happiness? In the real world, happiness sometimes comes after anticipation, or a struggle. like the kind that comes after finding out you passed an exam you studied day and night for, or the kind that comes when you get that victory or gift you’ve been anticipating for too long. Could the ones being purchased truly give us that kind of joy we seek for. I’m afraid if this emotion becomes a commodity, we may no longer understand its value.
Happiness may become a normal ordinary feeling, everyone is used to. That in-depth joy that comes when you achieve a task and get rewarded for it may not truly be attained if purchased. Such happiness would fade faster, quickly even, and we would end up buying more and more of a kind of happiness that is never truly satisfying, emotionally fulfilling or in-depth. Such happiness would lack depth, power and authenticity.
It would no longer be special, nor hold its value anymore. So in as much as I am tempted by that kind of system where we could purchase any kind of happiness and joy at will, that kind of system may do more damage than good. It may bite us in the back if we aren't careful enough.
So No, I wouldn't buy such happiness, because it would be fleeting, last only for a short time and lack the emotional depth I need. I choose authenticity, I choose the inborn happiness with that kind of emotional intensity that isn't and will never be available in the market or a shop.
