RUNNING HEAD: HAPPINESS

An Interview on Happiness

Name:

Course:

Tutor:

1st April, 2011

Introduction

Looking at human life; one can see that there are several episodes of one’s life that may affect him differently emotionally. For instance, when one is born, almost everyone tends to be happy. What is happiness? People have got varied definitions as to what is happiness, what actually constitues and brings about happiness (Rama, 1989).

The other side of one’s life is basically sadness. This is actually the opposite of happiness which can be reffed to as unhappiness. People tend to be unhappy, for example when one dies or when they lose a close relativer, friend or even an associate (Sellars, 2003).

This is not always true as such, because some usually are happy whe others are unhappy. For example, when one’s rival has died some might be happy about their death. In otherwards some are happy when others are not happy (Wolfe, 1999).

The following is an interview essay that focusses on the view of two different individuals’ perspective on their understanding of happiness. The first person is Mr. Gordon who is a teacher by profession and Ms. Mercy who is a Doctor. First I started by interviewing Mr. Gordon and consequently Ms. Mercy and the followoing are their responses to the various different questions that I asked them.

I: Thank you very much for agreeing to spare your scarce and valuable time to come for this interview. Mr. Gordon how can you difine happiness ?

Mr. Gordon: “Thanks as well for this important question, and actually before I answer it, let me start by saying that actually, hapiness may have varied definitions, and yet ellusive to define. I can define happines as the emotional state of feeling joy while supressing the stress and distress of life.”

I: Can you please, explain further, on what you mean when you say that it has varied definations and also when you say that happiness is ellusive.

Mr. Gordon: “what I do mean when I say that it has varied definitions is that happiness is varied and depends on an individuals point of view. To help me explain this further, let me use this example. Some people find happiness on little thing in life, for example, simply because they are alive and not sick makes them happy, while others, may be alive but not happy, because they do not own a car or good houses. Happiness is ellusive because one is only happy by choice. In other words, there are several things that can make us unhappy in life but we momentarily forget them and find happiness.”

I: How did you gain this view conserning happiness?

Mr. Gordon: “looking at life, you will hardly find instance when there in nothing that does not make you feel unhappy. Looking at the media; the news is majorly abut things that are supposed to make us unhappy by our human nature of empathy.

I: Has your definition of happiness changed over time?

Mr. Gordon: “Yes, to some extent, when I was young I did enjoyed being happy most of the time unlike now when I am an adult.”

I: What experiences have influenced your definition?

Mr. Gordon: “ I think as a child there was little I did to earn the happiness that I experienced; since my prents were responsible, but as an adult, I pay the price of my happiness.”

I: Do you expect the definition to change again?

Mr. Gordon: “Not actually.”

I: Thank you very much for agreeing to spare your scarce and valuable time to come for this interview. Ms. Mercy how can you difine happiness ?

Mercy: “To me, happines means having and enjoying everithing that is good and enjoyable in life.

I: Ms. Mercy what constitutes hapiness?

Ms. Mercy: “The things that bring about happiness are, for example, nice cars, houses, having more money to spend, among others.”

I: How did you gain this view conserning happiness?

Mercy: “I think, in life there are so many problems and the thing that bring about happiness are important for one’s happiness and if they are lacking, then, happiness can as well not be realised”

I: Has your definition of happiness changed over time?

Ms. Mercy ”Not so much.”

I: What experiences have influenced your definition?

Ms. Mercy “The main experiences are the easy of life with these things that make life enjoyable. “

Conclusions

The definitions given by both interviewees are quite different; and this makes the meaning of the word happiness quite personal. The first interviewee agrees that the task of defining the term is quite elusive; meaning he acknowledges that people have various meanings as to what qualifies to be termed as happiness. The second interviewee; tends to associate happiness with material thing and she is more of the view of those philosophers of Hedonism. It is a philosophy that equates happiness to physical pleasure (Janaro & Altshuler, 2008). In contrast, Mr. Gordon concers with the philosophy of Epicureanism that is happiness is avoiding pain. (Janaro & Altshuler, 2008).

References

Janaro, R., & Altshuler, T. C. (2008). The art of being human: the humanities as a technique for

living. New York: Pearson Longman.

Rama, S. (1989). The Art of Joyful Living. Honesdale: Himalayan Institute Press.

Sellars, J. (2003). The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy.

Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Wolfe, W. B. (1999). How to Be Happy Though Human. New York: Routledge.