Dad pursues happiness, mixed with a few boos

A Florida State University professor seems happy pursuing happiness.

The professor, Darrin McMahon, spent six years researching and writing a book about happiness. Just reading about this guy's research in an Associated Press article brought a smile to my face.

In an era when higher education has plenty of critics, it's nice to see that a little scholarly endeavor can prove worthwhile.

The New York Times recently named the professor's book, "Happiness: A History," as one of the 100 notable books of 2006.

I read several mystery novels last year, but I never even saw a copy of McMahon's book.

The book traces what great philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates thought about happiness.

The American Revolution wasn't all about happiness. But Jefferson counted the "pursuit of happiness" as an "unalienable right."

All this thinking about happiness can give you a headache. McMahon says happiness tends to slip away if you think about it too much.

If that's the case, maybe we should avoid reading his book. It might only make us more unhappy.

The author says he got the idea for the book during the happy days of the 1990s when the stock market was booming and the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Bobby McFerrin had a hit song, "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Aristotle might have had trouble understanding such happiness. According to the college professor, Aristotle held that happiness was based on a lifetime of experience. You couldn't really tell if you were happy until you were dead.

By that definition, happiness must have been a hard sell in Aristotle's day.

"The pursuit of happiness is a privilege," McMahon says.

OK. But as a parent, I like to think it's more of a necessity. No one likes a grumpy person.

Of course, sometimes it's hard to be happy, particularly when you're trying to deal with the latest crisis involving your children.

I wouldn't say I'm in a state of happiness as I accompany our older daughter, Becca, while she learns to drive. I would say it's more of a sigh of relief when the car comes to a complete stop.

Admittedly, some things provide us more happiness than others.

Girl Scout cookies make me happy. That is, until I run out of them.

Naps also make me happy.

But, according to this book, people didn't really think much about happiness until a few centuries ago.

At one time, most people thought of happiness as a matter of luck, like winning the lottery. Apparently, few people hit the jackpot, so happiness was in short supply.

Of course, being a serf didn't help much either. All work and no play made for some unhappy people.

And before the advent of the printing press, there were no good books to read.

As parents, we marvel at all the things our children have to make them happy. Many of them, it seems, are tied to electronic gadgets. If you think about it that way, happiness depends on a good set of batteries or a decent outlet.

For parents, it's more about spontaneous hugs from your children or even the occasional thank-you.

While I love some happiness, I'm not ready to eliminate all talk of the weather, politics or other topics that can make us grumpy.

After all, we want to be aggravated at times. If referees, for example, never made bad calls who would we boo?

And a little happiness goes a long way, particularly when Bobby McFerrin is singing about it.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.