The Pursuit of Happiness

Thomas Jefferson said, “I can’t live in a world without books.”  Pursuing the life of the mind is what brought him happiness.   According to the historian, David McCullough, Jefferson “… read seven languages.  He was a lawyer, surveyor, ardent meteorologist, botanist, agronomist, archaeologist, paleontologist, Indian ethnologist, classicist, brilliant architect.  Music, he said, was the passion of his soul, mathematics, the passion of his mind.”  He was all of this in a time when education was a luxury and a privilege.

As Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, including the words, “the pursuit of happiness,” Jefferson had in mind these intellectual pursuits as well as the pursuit of virtue free from government influences.  Jefferson had in mind citizens of moral character who would use liberty responsibly with concern for the common good.  Jefferson chose the word “pursuit” to emphasize a journey, not a destination.

For me, I have never been very successful in pursuing wealth, status or fame.  But I know that happiness always finds me when I am deep in the pages of a book, or actively engaged in discussion and debate, or busy helping my neighbors.  Happiness finds me in the thinking, the learning, the doing, and the connecting, not in the getting. 

Our forefathers were willing to sacrifice their honor and their lives for the vision Jefferson described in the Declaration of Independence.  And they had faith in a future they imagined but could not see.  They had faith in us!  Let’s keep a good thing going.  May happiness find you today as we celebrate and recommit to that great vision.

Happy Birthday, America!