The Pursuit of Happiness

It occurred to me that one of the strange things about life is that you sometimes don't appreciate what you have. For example, L is in Cambridge, she's found her accommodation, she's making plans, she's getting to meet people, wander around where she will live for the next 3 years. She is SO excited and I know, just because of her personality, she will have the time of her life. It's what I said to her. You will look back on this time as the most fantastic time that you will ever have had. You'll be young, at the peak of your energy levels and you'll be with lots of people, some of whom, will be your friends for life. I didn't go to University, so how do I know this? Well, my friends that did go and our friend's children are changed forever by the experience.

I always regret not going but I don't blame the system that stopped me. In all probability, I wouldn't have the life I have now so it's academic (or isn't). What I then thought about is some of the people I've met in my journey. I've climbed the greasy pole, I've had great roles where I've managed massive change projects and indirectly affected millions. Sounds great doesn't it but does it make me happy? I have a smug regard for the good things I've done but when I worked at the Charity it taught me another angle. I could use my ill gotten skills for good :-) The stuff I learnt fighting my way to the top could be leveraged to "do good" and suddenly, work meant a different thing. Most of the people I worked with did great things and they did it for very little money and yet they appeared to be quite happy in general (of course everyone has a moan every now and then). What I mean by this is that they had a simple, happy life. They didn't need to think about too much, money was important but wasn't everything. They invariably had a strong family life and they just seemed to enjoy themselves and be 'happy with their lot'.

I'm sure that if you'd push them to be more ambitious and to get on and climb the greasy pole etc that they would but they were just happy where they were, doing what they did and doing it compassionately and happily. Work life was (in my eyes) drudgery and not exciting at all, there weren't difficult challenges and there were very few 'dramas' happening. For me I have to have the excitement, the challenge and the deadline - it's the the thing that I have always had - but am I happy?

Yes I'm happy but actually I do have a hankering for just doing a simple job and then ramping up my social life. I've often felt that a job that was local, somewhere in the country or near the sea would be lovely. Arriving home in time to sit down outside, look out over a fine Vista with a glass of wine. Having enough money to have friends around for get togethers and the like, wandering in to a local pub, having a beer or two and being one of the locals. All those things have a certain attraction for me. But the people I worked with had little but appeared to be happy with their life without all the things that make my life buzz along.

I'd like to think that the girls will have a happy life if at all possible. This current atmosphere of greed and the pursuit of more and more goods and consumables doesn't help to set the scene and it doesn't actively engage the whole of society. It drives a wedge between the haves and the have nots which actively exposes the disparity in our society and splits us. Perhaps we will all wake up at some time in the future to the ugly face of capitalism - I saw a picture of Victoria Beckham with an £18,000 hand bag. Some people don't make that sort of money in a year. At some point in time surely we might have an outbreak of sense somewhere?

If I can borrow from our American Cousins the phrase Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness set down in the United States Declaration of Independence. I think it would be nice to have a simple straightforward set of rules like this in the UK. Sure we have the Constitution, Magna Carta but I doubt that anyone else could quote from that. I doubt we'd be allowed to bear arms though :-) We are dangerous enough without that :-)

So as I see L being SO excited and SO pleased to have got the place at University and just turned 18, I see all the hope and wonder that we set out with at that age and I hope that that is what she gets. She is a very funny girl with a great sense of humour (and an opposite nasty side if you do ever upset her and go past tolerance level) so all bodes well and I'm proud and envious all at the same time.