Story of Happiness: The Definition of True Happiness

I was once one of the richest men in the world in the world. I had unimaginable material wealth, and all of the power and responsibility that came with it. I was happy for a time, but after a while I was not. I became greedy, I had all of the money I could ever imagine, property, land that stretched far beyond the human eye, and incredible power; however, I wanted more. This began to control me. I wanted so much power that I could do anything I wanted, and it corrupted me. My company leaders then began to hate me; I would say and do anything to get what I wanted.

One day, I read an article on happiness, and it made me ask myself a life changing question, “Are you truly happy?” My answer, after thinking long and hard, was a powerful “NO”. The next week I announced the sale of my three billion dollar company to the world. People were surprised, yet relieved because they knew of my corruption; my greed. The next week, I sold my seven million dollar home, as well as several of my luxury cars. It was the next week that I purchased a small coastal home, and then split my fortune into three portions. Two of these were equal with one far larger than the other two. I was at this time closely approaching the age of thirty.

This was when I realized what true happiness was, and no matter how wealth I was, I could not buy my own happiness. I realized that true happiness is found in freedom, life, love, your accomplishments, and the helping of those who are less fortunate than we are.

I know that as young people, who have yet to fully experience life, you probably believe that money will bring you happiness. While it is true that money can help you in your search, money itself will not bring you happiness. True happiness is surviving the bad times and enjoying the good ones. It is accepting that you will die, but until then you will live in freedom with respect for the world and all of its people. You, as teenagers can feel true happiness by being thankful for what you have, as well as showing kindness to others.

True happiness is knowing that you are free. Free of oppression and confinement. You are truly happy when you don’t have to worry about losing your freedom, and you can rest easily. As teenagers you may have been confined before, sent to you room as punishment for doing something wrong. You know that you cannot be happy at this time, which is why freedom is vital to happiness.