“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not as bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise.” Henry David Thoreau
Life is full of ups and downs. Every time that you experience something that is good or bad, it will make you feel differently. Happiness therefore, is a weird and mysterious emotion. It is a thought that people get when they like something. Happiness is not singular though. It comes differently to other people. Society changes peoples perception of happiness. Perfection, drugs, and advertisements, try to convince you that you need a product or need to be a certain way to feel happy.
People constantly strive to be perfect. Beauty now a days, has reached a point where you need to be perfect to be beautiful. The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a story about a man and his wife. His wife has a small scar on her cheek. The husband thinks that this needs to be removed whereas the young lady Georgiana, disagrees with him. She is happy and at peace even though she has a scar on her cheek. The husband named Alymer, created this solution to remove the scar; he discovers a plant that could remove it. He had finally convinced his wife to get the procedure. When she wakes up, the scar is gone but Georgiana ends up dying. If beauty comes with such a high cost, can it really be perfection? Is this kind of perfection really happiness?
Young girls look up to people that are popular, or what they believe is beautiful. They set high expectations for their selves. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show just recently aired on television. The aftermath of events like this, for children and even some adults, is horrible. All of the women who model the clothes, are caked in make-up. They are touched up to the point that they are, with out a doubt, fake. It makes people believe that they need to look like the models to be beautiful and happy.
Drugs are an escape for people to find happiness for a short period of time. They forget about everything that is around them. The Euphio Question, is just another example of a way that a few men had tried to create fake happiness. Fake happiness is not real happiness. If it forces your mind to think a certain way, it is not truly what you feel. Fake happiness is something that makes you feel something totally different than the reality.
Advertisements are similar to drug use; they take advantage of people by making them believe that they will be happy if they buy what they are advertising. Advertisers target “The American Dream”. People want success, happiness, beauty, and friendship. When people buy things, they believe that they will be happy with what they are buying but, the happiness soon wears off. You always want something bigger, better, and newer. Therefore, you will buy the latest version of the product that you already have.
Society makes people feel differently. It changes the way that people think that they should look, feel, and act. Society convinces you that you need something in order to experience happiness. It makes you feel below everyone who is made to look perfect. Society portrays a different realm of happiness that is unreachable as a human being.
This is really good. I like the points you made on drugs and the fashion show. I guess I never thought about that before and it's really interesting. Good job.
ReplyDeleteyou did a really good job explaining what happiness truly is. The video you posted of the evolution commercial was an awesome way to portray your view on how this perfection that everyone talks about not being true happiness. And the birthmark book that you talked about was a good reference to what you were trying to get across. Very good job!
ReplyDeletethis is really good. It opens my eyes that people do really try to be like each other.
ReplyDeleteI shared your blog with Mrs. Koopman recently and we spent some time talking about you. We both think you're incredible. I also shared this blog over Twitter and with a colleague at the high school. I think it's worth sharing, and not just because I'm impressed with your use of Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Vonengut. I shared it because you were able to connect them in a meaningful way with something that is happening now that affects a great deal of people, especially young women and girls. You are looking out for people, and that's awesome.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming to a brand new conclusion about the topic and bringing in some timeless arguments. You synthesize these things very well and I appreciate that.
Leighton,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is really good. I love how you bring up the subject of society, and young girls look up to older people as there role models. Which is just so true. And when you said that to be beautiful, you have to perfect, but then if thats true, then no one is beautiful because no one is perfect. Plus all of your other topics you brought up are really true, and easy to follow.
Great job!
- Jilli