Happiness can be a hard thing to find in this world we live in today. Our society’s view of happiness, especially America’s, is predicated on objects and wealth. This is a normalized way to view happiness, which revolves around making more money than others and having more than them. However, this ideal is simply an American sham and a way to mobilize the populace to consume and bring happiness to big businesses. But what if in the end the happiness we are constantly chasing is not what we thought it was? What if you could have saved all the money you spent on objects and spent them on experiences, trips to exotic places and people. This could allow you to live just as happily, if not more so, while gaining and experiencing unforgettable experiences.

The happiness we all chase is a phantom and a myth in my mind. Our society and all others around the world were formed to give us protection from each other through structure and law. Notice how they were not formed to create a happier state of being? Many researchers and historians alike look at the world today and see mass depression, self-confidence levels slipping and people trying to form themselves to the mold our society wishes all of us to conform to. This is not happiness; one person’s happiness may be another’s personal hell. This is why we cannot normalize happiness, as for each and every one of us it means something different.

Perhaps we humans were happier before industrialization, back when the product of our labor came from our bodies and our hands. When humans worked to survive and to provide for themselves and their families. There were no norms, no standardized boring jobs. While there have always been differing roles in a community, the prehistoric and pre-industrialized peoples had jobs that had a large meaning within their group. If a certain role was not fulfilled then the group may not survive. It is within a community such as this where every person can find their own niche and feel as though they are worth something to the group.

It is this bond, this feeling of accomplishment and belonging, that I think is the key to human happiness. In our modern world, this has become lost, because we truly are nowadays almost a world community. We are not isolated into small communities and as such we have globalized work and communication. Our societies have elected leaders and because of this the voice of the people is sometimes not heard. People get lost in a world where they individually mean nothing. They can sense the overwhelming notion that among the seven billion people on earth their lives do not mean a thing. It is that loss of community and that feeling of worth that has resulted in the current unhappiness we see all over the earth. The future may see this change, with our technology and forward progression perhaps eventually all life will be is an attempt to chase happiness as it almost is now. However, society will have to change, and we as a global collective must realize that we are only in this world for so long. Would you rather use that time on objects and chasing money, or on experiences, happiness and other people?