Happiness

Happiness Different people define happiness differently. For some, it means abundance of love, while for others it means the ampleness of money. It is a relative concept. No two people have the same definition of happiness. It is commonly thought of as having a great deal of money, power, or fame. But can these things actually make people happy? Happiness is actually more than what most people think it is. It can be mysterious and elusive, sought after by many, but not gained by all. Some people find happiness from the love given by friends and family. Others find happiness by being rich and powerful. But, whatever the source, happiness is definitely an essentiality and necessity of life. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, happiness is defined as the quality or condition of being happy (Oxford). When asking a shopper at a high end retail store what is it that allows them to achieve happiness, their answer may be along the lines of purchasing the new Gucci handbag or the Louis Vuitton high heeled shoes they had seen on the runway in Paris. For this person and for many others, happiness relies on the material belongings in life. Possibly the reason why people purchase these extravagant items is because of the attention received, which in return brings them happiness. Or perhaps in order to be happy one must splurge on expensive things to make up for the lack of happiness. In 1530 happiness was defined as good fortune or luck in life, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford). In this particular time period, maybe money did in fact buy happiness. To have what now a days we would call a “good life” one had to have been wealthy. The material items that would have been bought today, such as fancy cars or multimillion dollar houses are completely different from what material items would have been during that time period. For the people who lived in the 1530 material items would have been food or a place to call home. Whatever the time period

Cited: Dictionary.Com. Houghton Mifflin, 29 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://dictionary.com.reference.com/browser/happiness>. "Happiness." Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford Press, 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/84070>.