Declaring Happiness
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence calls these unalienable rights for all people, but what do they mean exactly? For Americans, life and liberty come with citizenship. And yet, pursuing happiness is another story entirely. While writing the Declaration, the authors could not guarantee that everyone in the nation would be happy, or could be happy. 15% of people struggle with depression and this percentage has been seen throughout history. Clearly, no one can promise happiness, or pursue it.
Promising the pursuit of happiness is as unreasonable. Happiness is an emotion, like anger or sadness. These emotions are felt and experienced, not pursued. But the pursuit of material wealth, such as money or items, is very possible. Many people associate happiness with material wealth, and this can be seen in the Declaration of Independence. Though happiness may be found in the Declaration of Independence, it cannot be found, it must be felt.
In pop culture, a true story was turned into a movie and given the clever title of “The Pursuit of Happyness.” The story is about a young man who is struggling to make rent, and eventually becomes homeless with his 5-year old son. The pursuit of the movie is rather to land a job than be happy. Throughout the movie the father and son have many happy moments, playing and giggling in the subways and on the street. In the movie description it even states, “with self-confidence and the +love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend.” So basically, the pursuit of happiness equals the pursuit of money.
Money does not make a person happy, and the pursuit of happiness is not possible. Chris Gardner and his son still have the unconditional love and virtuous moments they had before their wealth. Life and liberty are not equivalent with becoming happy because plenty of depressed people are alive and have rights and still hate their lives.
“The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription.” The Charters of Freedom. government, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
“About The Pursuit of Happyness.” Sony Pictures. Sony Pictures, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
“The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America.” National Institute of Mental Health. usa.gov, n.d. Wed. 10 Apr. 2014
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
Hey, Angela.
P1. This is a good strong opening. You’re clever to work another attempt at definition into your essay, particularly clever to use the familiar phrase “pursuit of happiness” to make readers think about the real meaning of that familiar phrase.
You appear to be carving out a portion of the population for whom happiness is simply out of the question, but then you fudge a bit. We’re more than happy to consider the possibility that the clinically depressed can’t achieve happiness, but in no way does that demonstrate “clearly” that nobody can pursue happiness.
P2. I’m confused. Where is material wealth in the Declaration of Independence? When you say “happiness may be found in the Declaration of Independence,” do you mean the word can be found? And yes, happiness must be felt, like anger or sadness. I get that. Most people don’t attempt to bring about the circumstances that will make them sad. But most people do attempt to bring about the circumstances that will make them happy. So what’s the point of saying happiness can’t be pursued?
P3. Even more confused, Angela. I’m sorry. If during the pursuit of his career the father had noticed he was having happy moments with his son, would you have agreed he was happy? For him happiness would be something felt. But why would it not also be something found? The recognition that good time with his boy qualified as happiness would be finding happiness, yes?
P4. What argument were you refuting here, Angela? That happiness could be pursued? I’m going to say something I might have said before. If I have a goal, whatever it is, the achievement of which I think will make me happy, and am consciously pursuing that goal, I might be happy in the very pursuit of that goal. Pursuing that happy state might be the happy state.