...And the pursuit of contentment

By archer di peppe

I know the actual words are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but happiness is fleeting. Happiness is a butterfly that is easy to spot but can disappear as quickly. Maybe we should seek contentment.

It is interesting to note that the original words of the Declaration of Independence were life, liberty and property. While the original was not quite as poetic, property was probably closer to the heart of what mattered most to the landed gentry.

It is not uncommon for people to believe that something material is missing from their lives that is keeping them from being happy. I had a Sociology professor who told the class the story of the guy who believed if he had a color television, he would be content. This story goes back to 1970 when color television technology was less than ten years old. He bought one, then another, then another, until he had five color televisions. Having a color television was not the answer to his problem.

If you are fortunate enough to be middle class in America, you live much better than kings from history. We have much better access to healthcare, and we live in climate-controlled spaces. We have much better accessibility to a wider variety of food. We have all of this, and no one is trying to poison us, which was a definite occupational hazard for kings.

Interestingly enough, the countries that score highest on the happiness scale have the strongest sense of community. The top three are Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Ninety-eight per cent of the citizens in Iceland know that they have someone to count on in a time of need. It is not uncommon in America to

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Virginia

Thank you Front Porch for the wonderful coverage of Sophia Street Throwdown!

Trista Chapman not even know most of our neighbors. America ranks fifteenth.

Front Porch I love this paper!

Digital connections have replaced human connections. We have never been so well connected on one level, and at the same time so removed from actual human contact with one another. How much of your life do you want to spend staring into a screen? The average American spends one third of their waking hours on their cell phones. Not me.

I have a flip phone and I still use AOL. Stop laughing. The reason I have a cell phone is so I can call my wife's phone when she can't find hers, and so she can find me in the grocery store. "Where the hell are you?"

I led my childhood outdoors, and all the mothers watched over us. There were no Facebook posts in those days. Mothers still found ways of finding out what their kids did all day. Those were the days when, "I'm going to tell your mother!" really meant something because they really told your mother.

I think we have lost some things in our quest to learn everything we can as fast as we can. We run right past our lives. After awhile everything becomes a distraction. Bright lights and loud noises seem to swirl around us continuously.

The first step to contentment is to stop comparing ourselves to other people. That is a game we can't win and shouldn't play. My next piece of advice is you don't have to say what you are thinking. I hate to be sexist, but men are the worst at this. A guy will just blurt out what he thinks. Most women are smarter

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Oh great....good job Stacy on the Guiness....Good enough to drink. (Stacy Gerise, “My Guiness”, cover March 2023)

Valerie McCarney than that. A cut from a knife can heal. A cut from a word may never heal. If men could understand that, it would save millions of marriages.

Finally, the most important possession you can have is a grateful heart. Being fully conscious of what we really do have can center us. We can learn that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. When people ask me if I believe that the glass is half empty or half full, I say I am just happy to have the glass.

Well, you have a whole Front Porch Magazine right in front of you. Enjoy it like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot August day, and be sure to read it cover to cover.

Arch Di Peppe is retired and lives in Spotsylvania County.

Debra Samuels

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