Happiness And St. Augustine's 'First Dialogue'

In the “First Dialogue”, the topic surrounding the root of the unhappiness really stood out to me. I feel like to have a precise definition for what happiness and unhappiness is not quite right in Petrarch and St. Augustine’s discussion. The flaw in having a set definition is what makes me happy is different from what makes the person next to me happy and the reason I am unhappy is different from the reason why he/she is unhappy. St. Augustine blames our own selves for our happiness. I think St. Augustine has a point alone. We have needs and desires being humans. Tracing it back, our unhappiness is rooted in ourselves. The only problem I see in the discussion is that St. Augustine is less concern about the process of what makes a person unhappy and more focus on the root of unhappiness.
What St. Augustine really wants to emphasize is the root of unhappiness, but Petrarch thinks that the root of unhappiness is humans’ materialistic nature. We strive to fulfill desires and it is the inability to fulfill them that causes us so much grief and sorrow. Both of them have their own point and neither of them are necessarily wrong. I feel like in essence it is the fault of the self. In this case, I think St. Augustine would agree that materialism is a permanent part of an individual. The fact that Petrarch continues to debate with St. Augustine makes me think that Petrarch think being materialistic is a choice rather than a nature that is tied with the