Monthly Blog AP English 6 "Happiness"

            Happiness. To me, it is the most important thing in life. What is the point of living if you aren't happy? You have to smile every once in a while! You just have to be happy, but of course....you can't always be. Everyone wants to be happy, don't get me wrong, there are just certain things preventing people from being happy. Whether it be family, school, people in general, just life in general, we can't always be happy. Life has its ups, downs, twists, and turns. Everyone goes through the rollercoaster that is life.

            Let me give you a speech that generalizes my view on life and happiness, right here right now, from a classic movie. "The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!"

            I'm not going to lie, I might seem like a "happy go lucky" kind of guy, but my past wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. I was a nobody up until 11th grade, and even then I was still in a bad time. I've been neglected by a lot of people, besides my family, and it was pretty terrible. I was that nerdy kid who wanted to be friends with everyone and just be happy, but I guess I wasn't a likable person. I was picked on a lot, people avoided me, called me all sorts of names, strangled me, punched me, and more. This stuff ruined my life, made me cry a lot, thinking that nobody ever wanted anything to do with me. When 11th grade rolled around I joined sports and got a lot more athletic and social, without these sports I probably wouldn't be alive today. It gave me a place to be somebody....it made me happy. This happiness also came with a lot of maturity. I gained a pretty open mind from my social stand point. I wasn't the "popular guy" or "the nerd", I was just an average seeming person. This gave me such a wide view on everyone else's lives. I understood everything, how people think, why they did certain things, and I became very mature from it. I also learned not to judge just because someone is different than the average person. Society changes everyone, for better or for worse, and sometimes I can't blame them for who they become. This knowledge made me sorta special in a way. This knowledge  allowed me to make better choices, especially friends. The way I started living my life, made me truly happy, and I won't let anyone destroy what I hold dear to my heart anymore. All these past experiences, and more things that I can't really fit into this blog post, made me who I am today.

            So anyways, back on topic, happiness. An example that ties in with this control of life's happiness is in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Awakening". Both of the main characters in these pieces of literature have their lives controlled by others, and it ruins their sense of happiness. They lost their independence and pride, which caused them to lose themselves. Edna and the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" are both seized by society and their husbands, to the point where they can't even make decisions for themselves without permission. Both go insane. As stated before, happiness is essential to life, without it I'd go insane as well.

            So yeah...if that nonstop rant and ramble of words made sense to you, then I achieved my goal of getting my point across while also managing to do everything required for a monthly blog. Honestly I have a really amazing view on life, you probably can't tell from what I just wrote, but hey I tried. I will depart with one last saying. "Hakuna matata", it means no worries, for the rest of your days.