Human Happiness Manifesto
Is the glass half-full or half-empty?
It’s based on your perspective, quite simply
We’re the same and we’re not; know what I’m saying? Listen
Son, I ain’t better than you, I just think different
Think Different — Nujabes feat. Substantial
I am a human.
Because I am a human, I cannot sit back. We are currently spiraling, round and round and round, sucked into a whirlwind, our visions blurred, our heads searching, our fingers grasping but not holding. What is the cost of lies, what is the cost of living in a perfect yet unrealistic world, what is the cost of a constant, temporary feeling over a true one? Happiness is fleeting and hidden, it is moving from one app to the next, it is not what it used to be.
Because I am a human, I know the struggle. I know how easy the distractions work their way into our lives through social media, how easy it is to accept this as happiness, to grab these quick moments that act like a hypodermic needle of dopamine to the brain. More followers = more happiness? More likes, more influence = greater version of self? Truly nay I say. Happiness feels like a product more than an emotion, like something we grab and pull into our lives rather than being a central trait of existing as a human. We buy into these fake online realms and treat them as real as you and I are, despite there often being layers of photoshop, heaps of hidden insecurities, but they are all masked behind the screen.
Because I am a human, I want others to be happy. I do not want people to compare themselves to anyone but themselves. I do not want people to compare themselves to the versions of humans we see on the internet who are not wholly accurate representations. I do not want people to value phones over faces. I do not want people to spend time in a world that does not exist to make others happy. I do not want people to live more in the online than the real.
Because I am a human, I have to help. I want people to buy into this world, into this now, into the tangible. I want the perspective to shift, for eyes to be opened, for reality to be where we want to live. Technology has ultimately tainted all we once knew, what was clear is clouded. We exist in two areas at once, and trying to maintain both is not truly feasible. Breaking away from tech, shifting a perspective, and establishing human ties that are not bound by the constraints of a phone, an app, a goddamn screen, well what could be born then?
Because I am a human, I want to be happy. That is the whole reason I have embarked upon this journey. I once bought into these online platforms, and I still do from time to time, but I want others to see what I see now. My happiness was a façade, it was a cardboard cutout of a life-sized version of myself. Now, I fixate on humanity and see the value that can be conjured from life by engaging with others, by sharing a smile, a story. I want to share my path to happiness; I do not think I am better than anyone else, I just think differently and feel that, maybe this time, my words need to be heard.
But can I reach others?