To love and Michael Jackson to be still alive
20 October, 2018
One of my 7-year-old twins said yesterday that she did not like the word "happiness" because it did not sound good. I asked her which words then sounded good to her and she answered: "I love you" "You are very beautiful", "You are very kind", "I like you". I asked her what word should then replace the word "happiness”. And she responded with "love". Then she laughed and said,
"Well, you know, it's very annoying to be asked so many questions!”
“Okay, I’ll stop. But you know, I wanted to learn from you. I asked you as if you were my teacher.”
“O wow” - said the child – “that's good then.”
But I decided to stop with the questions so far, it is obvious that for children the happiness is still a word they do not understand. They do not know it, nobody repeats it to them all the time - in the sense of - work for your happiness, look after your own happiness, think how to do something to bring happiness to yourself... No, people say to the children: listen, perform, watch, read, write, do not speak loudly, do not use bad words, do not dangle ...
And to find out if I'm right, I asked the child again today:
"You still don’t like the word "happiness"?
"Well, when you say it, it sounds good, because you talk very nice. And so, I like it. And who were those angels: Happiness, Hope, and who was the other ...”
“Faith, Hope and Love?”
“Yes.”
“And hope - do you know what is that?”
"Hope," explains her sister, "is when someone has a problem, to call for help. Or if he is sick, to go to the doctor or tell Mum and Dad to help him.”
“And they'll help him! This is hope” - her sister is also convinced.
"And happiness, what is it really?" I ask the children again.
- Happiness is - begins to list one of the twins - to be good, not to offend anybody, no one to fight you and you not to fight anyone, not to make fun of you, to say good words to you and you to say nice words to the others ...
"Very beautiful, but it's kind of nice and upbringing, maybe it's just not happiness ..."
“Hapuinuess - says my other daughter - is to love your family and Michael Jackson to be alive!” (in a child’s voice of course)
“Well, is that possible?!”
“It is possible!” She says.
Well, how can Michael Jackson become alive, I think to myself.
But she is right about what happiness is: having something warm, cosy and secure such as your family and the affection of loved ones, and dreaming of something impossible. Because nothing you have can be enjoyable forever. Fact. Even the family. For the most of us, our favourite people are not a source of joy, they are not something special, they are not what we think of as happiness. And they're just a given. Well, yes, they are important to us, yes - we cannot cope without them - you will tell me, but not when we fight for stupid things, not when we wonder how to have a moment alone, not when we want to do something, but we cannot, because we are always forced to consider the others...
Fact, her sister speaks very beautifully, but like everybody who so much wants to be obedient, she just goes wrong - happiness is not love. The happiness is to have and not have. And be neither at one nor at the other - but somewhere in between. And when you want it, you can easily get it from one end or the other. If you need hope, you can find it among the loved ones, for example, as the children have said. But when you are well and strong, you can escape from everything and everyone in the direction of something so good that it is just what will never happen. It's never going to happen and that's why it's the most favourite thing in the world - because it's just yours, because you make it up and turn it down and then you destroy it and start it again, change it, if you want or you forget it sometimes. Fact, nothing is as good as what you do not have. At least until you have it.
Ohh, or that's not the case. It's just for me. Because it, happiness, is just a point of view - you look and you see it or you look and you do not see it.
Author: Maya Krassimirova
More stories from Maya are available here:
https://storybox2017.wordpress.com/page/1/
"Well, you know, it's very annoying to be asked so many questions!”
“Okay, I’ll stop. But you know, I wanted to learn from you. I asked you as if you were my teacher.”
“O wow” - said the child – “that's good then.”
But I decided to stop with the questions so far, it is obvious that for children the happiness is still a word they do not understand. They do not know it, nobody repeats it to them all the time - in the sense of - work for your happiness, look after your own happiness, think how to do something to bring happiness to yourself... No, people say to the children: listen, perform, watch, read, write, do not speak loudly, do not use bad words, do not dangle ...
And to find out if I'm right, I asked the child again today:
"You still don’t like the word "happiness"?
"Well, when you say it, it sounds good, because you talk very nice. And so, I like it. And who were those angels: Happiness, Hope, and who was the other ...”
“Faith, Hope and Love?”
“Yes.”
“And hope - do you know what is that?”
"Hope," explains her sister, "is when someone has a problem, to call for help. Or if he is sick, to go to the doctor or tell Mum and Dad to help him.”
“And they'll help him! This is hope” - her sister is also convinced.
"And happiness, what is it really?" I ask the children again.
- Happiness is - begins to list one of the twins - to be good, not to offend anybody, no one to fight you and you not to fight anyone, not to make fun of you, to say good words to you and you to say nice words to the others ...
"Very beautiful, but it's kind of nice and upbringing, maybe it's just not happiness ..."
“Hapuinuess - says my other daughter - is to love your family and Michael Jackson to be alive!” (in a child’s voice of course)
“Well, is that possible?!”
“It is possible!” She says.
Well, how can Michael Jackson become alive, I think to myself.
But she is right about what happiness is: having something warm, cosy and secure such as your family and the affection of loved ones, and dreaming of something impossible. Because nothing you have can be enjoyable forever. Fact. Even the family. For the most of us, our favourite people are not a source of joy, they are not something special, they are not what we think of as happiness. And they're just a given. Well, yes, they are important to us, yes - we cannot cope without them - you will tell me, but not when we fight for stupid things, not when we wonder how to have a moment alone, not when we want to do something, but we cannot, because we are always forced to consider the others...
Fact, her sister speaks very beautifully, but like everybody who so much wants to be obedient, she just goes wrong - happiness is not love. The happiness is to have and not have. And be neither at one nor at the other - but somewhere in between. And when you want it, you can easily get it from one end or the other. If you need hope, you can find it among the loved ones, for example, as the children have said. But when you are well and strong, you can escape from everything and everyone in the direction of something so good that it is just what will never happen. It's never going to happen and that's why it's the most favourite thing in the world - because it's just yours, because you make it up and turn it down and then you destroy it and start it again, change it, if you want or you forget it sometimes. Fact, nothing is as good as what you do not have. At least until you have it.
Ohh, or that's not the case. It's just for me. Because it, happiness, is just a point of view - you look and you see it or you look and you do not see it.
Author: Maya Krassimirova
More stories from Maya are available here:
https://storybox2017.wordpress.com/page/1/
