Over the years it has occurred to me, on more than one occasion that the energy and cost that travel requires may not be so important to a happy and contented life. Friends and family are the fundamental ingredients for a blissful existence. On the other hand seeing other places, and how their inhabitants occupy their environment, does enrich us in ways that are both subtle and profound. How do we know that, if our lives did not include a broad geosocial point of view, we could be as happy? Would there be the same feeling of fulfillment? How would we see ourselves had we not seen and listened to others with different opinions and worldviews? Many of us can blame the failed politics of the Cold War, Vietnam, and our local draft boards for our first exposure to the world beyond the innocence of youth.
Historically, Americans shared a very isolated refuge from the rest of the world. The United States had been formed by people who wanted, or needed, to escape from various forms of oppression. Our isolation was our security. Then along came Darwin and Malthus who upset the applecart with ideas that punctured the romanticized bubbles of closed-minded thinking that we humans are so capable of. Our growing literacy gave us access to greatly expanded ideas, along with a whole lot more. We wanted an a varied diet, better tools, stylish as well as functional clothing, greater variety of all kinds of thinking and stuff. We had united a rather large array of cultures in a rather large area that was rich in resources and ideas that could be traded for the benefit of all. Sharing goods and services throughout the world should be good for everybody, right?
Humans are social animals. We depend on one another for survival – men, women, physical strengths, mental aptitudes, and various combinations of these – we must have learned as cavemen that life is better when we work together. However, the antithesis is that we are not perfect animals. We have flaws and idiosyncrasies. Our ability to work together requires that we meet challenges, and we learn that our failures are very real. Thus, we are insecure about the very concept that makes us stronger. There is a yin and a yang to human existence that is complex and often incomprehensible.
Now, you are asking, during this holiday season, what is this about? The answer is simple. Our family, our friends, our acquaintances, frenemies, adversaries, our travels, and our exposure to others with their different ways of doing things, their ways of coping, are necessary elements in making us all better prepared for life’s challenges. Valuing our relationships in the world we live in is a key to finding real happiness.
It is easy to say that this is something that we’ve learned after decades of living, but that’s not true. We learn as we go and what we learn evolves with time and experience. Knowledge is defined by an array of things – who we have interacted with, when, what else may have been happening in our lives at the time, what we have read and learned before and after, and so much more. It’s complicated.
Most important is the realization that everyone that we encounter along the way has more than the potential to influence us in some way. With every personal association in our lives, we have gained context, as well as perspective. We learn sympathy, empathy, disdain, and respect. We learn that all contacts can turn on a light in our hearts and brains and provide meaning to something else. For this reason, the holiday season gives us an opportunity to reach out and tell others that we owe them our gratitude for making our lives better. The act of doing this makes us happy. Personally, I’m still not feeling content. There is no possible way that I can express my pleasure adequately. Maybe you won’t read this. Maybe you won’t read it in the spirit that it is meant. Maybe I should have realized sooner. Maybe I should have articulated sooner. Maybe next year.
To all the holiday lights in our lives, your brilliance shines every day. May the coming year bring both happiness, contentment, and light to you all.
