Just what is happiness?

Good health and self respect is one personal opinion. And I happen to live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, where we have many “poor” people. And many adults seem to be “happy”, within in reason of course. Some are happier than others. Now most kids seem to be happy, enough.

This last weekend I even had about 15 kids (I’m not really sure the exact amount) and 6 dads up here for a father kid campout. Most of the dad’s came across as smart and hard working from the Nashville, TN, area. They impressed me collectively, as a host.

Of course the kids mostly just wanted to camp and fish, and do anything they did not do in Nashville. And of course, in Nashville, there is much suffering from the recent floods. And the other report I can provide is that these kids wanted this old guy to tell them local scary stories. Now I had been threatened enough by one of their mothers not to do this, and so I respected this. But the kids kept asking, anyway. And I “slipped” a little. After all I do have a few scars to “prove” my lies.

And maybe we have a local Monterey velociraptor that even the dogs fight, too.

What also got my attention was a question from one father, and he suggested other fathers had talked about the same question. To sum it down, they might move up to the Cumberland Plateau from Nashville if times get hard. I took this as a family and happiness question.

Hopefully, things won’t get this bad in our USA quality of life. Things 100 years ago were good for them, but so is today’s quality of life, which is better than 100 years ago in the USA. Examples like 24/7 electricity and beds bigger than “full” come to mind. How about just having a thermostat? How about having to keep the wood stove going at 3AM because kids are just too young to trust.

Anyway, whatever happens, I still think happiness is good health, and self respect. And I am so glad I live in the New World, even the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This is lucky for me, mostly because I will trust the outcome better than anywhere else I have lived, mostly in the third world.