You may say that we’re a dreamers
But I’m we’re the only ones
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

haha i tied it back to the article!

oh yeah, gary, like i said, i’m all in

the more happy moments we string together and pass along to the next person, the less other things happen. that`s the good i can do.

You goddamned hippies!

I think working individually the odds are stacked way against us. Working individually we have five chances:
1) Slim
2) None
3) A chinaman’s
4) A snowball in the devil’s own furnace and
5) Maggie, bar the door and get the gun.

Seriously though, I think the first thing to do is realize something about an internet community. My whole life (and I mean entire life) I have always wondered where are the other people like me. I thought when I went to college I would finally meet some like-minded people - I thought that must be where they are hiding or at least congregating. Boy, was I wrong. Us optimists can be naive.

For a while I despaired - some similarly minded people I found were either loners, or not craving company at that particular junction in thier life or already crushed by outside forces.

But then, in 1997 or so the internet electronically sauntered into my scene.

Without wanting to sound like an ego-maniac I think all the good I can do (in fact all the good a lot of people can do) is, well, a lot. A REAL lot. I think alstairs idea of stringing happiness together is beautiful and appropo.

I am not optimistic that working alone is the most good I can do, however. I have to keep digesting this. It is far, far from thoroughly thought out.

But let me drop this tidbit so, I hope, people keep reading Tim’s comment section -

part of the oppression of modern times is the idea, (whether it has nefarious or simply matter fact origins), that the way we live now is the best we can do as a society. People just accept this wholesale. Ideas like the “’60’s” failed and that is it. There is no “better way” - no one is seriously espousing new philosophies (at least in meaningful, applicable ways) or trying them in a large format. There will never be things like a “war on poverty” or a “war on hunger” or a “war on depression” or a “war on loneliness” or whatever.

I disagree with the idea that this is the best we can do. Something needs to be done. Or at least discussed. But I am not really interested in hearing naysaying - there are no problems, only solutions.

Little islands of happines like alstair, and I like to think myself, have made are too easily over-run by the hordes of selfish fools that run amok or at times just by circumstance.

Like minded people who so desire it should get together. We live in a culture that produces isolation in tremendous quantities - even within families. The first step, I found, in making happiness flow is countering that tendency towards isolation.

I guess, substance m, what I am talking about is a plan of sorts. The world seems to be filled with an awful lot of miserable people. What we are doing is not enough, it would seem - anecdotedly anyway. But, yes, a plan is what I am talking about and I disagree with the idea that a plan would not work. Just talking about the plan makes me happier. I also disagree that you can’t organize things to help make happiness. In fact, I disagree whole heartedly. In order for me to have a happy family has taken considerable effort on everyone’s part. You can’t be happy just sitting around waiting for it to strike like a bolt of lightning. Maybe it can’t be organized but it ABSOLUTELY can be facilitated. That is, I guess, in part what I am thinking about.

By the way Alstair, Led Zepplin makes me happy, too. I think that as those of us who can and want to come together we are going to find we have much more in common than we have different from one another.

I don’t think I can do what I plan alone. In fact, I know I can’t. But I can search for those who share a similar vision. They seem to be popping up now with some regularity.

Can you hear what all the little fish are saying?

the more happy moments we string together and pass along to the next person, the less other things happen. that`s the good i can do.

Alasdair, that is AWESOME.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world

Sums it up pretty well.

alstair, the next step. Let’s make happiness together.

I believe Alistair’s point is, that we ARE doing it together if we are doing it individually. Because, what do u mean exactly when u say - let’s make happiness together. Can we sit down and write out an action plan and then get a lot of people to buy our plans and implement them… believe it’s been tried in some way…
U can’t really do that in an organized fahsion. You and I sitting in a room together and espousing all kinds of plans for a happiness team might not make each other “happy”, even if we both had common goals of becoming “happy” (it might well do also, but that would be a fluke or something connecting in individual personalities). However, just not being a dick to the person beside you, like em or not, will make you, if not happy - then at least not angry or aggrevated. And it may brighten the other persons outlook as well, who knows. Then it can be passed on. -> then we’re doing it together. Until every freakin last one of us bastards is happier than a pig in shit.

A lot of us.

I’ve been lurking around your blog for a while now, and just have to tell you this is an exquisite piece of writing and a thought-provoking post.

Pax.

Kimberly

Simplisticly, I was thinking of a quote from the film “A Giant Leap” in which an Indian Guru guy says “Make happiness.”

In making happiness I can fight the system, stop some killing, reduce some pollution, expose some lies and minimize some rape. I’ll post some more shortly - I just got up and have to walk the dog and stuff.

All the good we can do in this world is…a lot of good. A tremendous amount of good. Like the Beatles said, “It’s easy.”

I can still remember the tune (it’s seared into my brain), though not all of the words. “You don’t know / all the good / you can do / in this world … Don’t sacrifice tomorrow / for today.” I looked at my friend and began weeping uncontrollably. I knew then, finally, that I couldn’t just run away and try to start over someplace else, couldn’t let the universe branch off and disappear into itself.

What am I missing? Seems backwards. We have today. We are not guaranteed a tomorrow. There is nothing new under the sun.

The Beatles sang:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

Seen this one?: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/mansonbeatles.html

What is good? People see what they want to see. People see what they need to see. Maybe it’s the same thing. The world’s insane. We’re just along for the ride. Yeah, sometimes it’s bumpy. Sometimes the scenery sucks. Sometimes the best thing to do then is nap. Once in a while we zoom over a big hill and feel like we’re soaring. The drop gives us butterflies in our tummies, it does.

Agnes

Powerful post. Something I think about a lot. And alstair’s comment makes good sense. But.

Let’s do something.