I'm Happy To Say I'm Happy

I'm happy.

There I said it.

I'm happy for a lot of different reasons. I'll give you a few.

I don't have a toothache.

The Russians turned back during the Cuban Missile Crisis

My wife is not pissed off at me

I survived cancer.

I've got all the money that I need.

My daughter has joined us here down South.

She confessed that she was happy being near us.

I'm not living in Gaza or the Ukraine.

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

That wasn't so hard.

Why do we have such a hard time admitting to happiness?

Why would we just as soon confess to guilt or sing the blues.

Is it because that confessing happness might attract negativity. For many years, Sports Illustrated was infamous for jinxing whatever  individual or team made the cover. Lately it's been jinxing itself has the magazine is as near extinction as are the fishwraps.

Is it because our culture teaches us to be humble or boastful? Remember how pissed off we were at Cassius Clay when he changed his name to Muhahammad Ali and told us that he was the greatest. 

We don't want to make anybody envious and expose ourselves to the gossip that has been spreading since we went from Neanderthal to Sapien. We live in a competive society. We don't want to piss off anybody by making them feel inferior or to rub salt in their wounds or to give the impression that we don't give a shit about the less fortunate.

We feel unworthy of our happiness. We know how lucky we've been to get where we are and realize we're only a few crises or catastrophes or paychecks or black swans or impulses away from losing  all that we didn't deserve in the first place so let's feign indifference if not down and out depression.

Happiness? What's happiness. No such thing. Why pursue and illusion? John Lennon sure as hell didn't find any happiness in the wam gun that killed him unless perhaps death is happiness but let's not go there. I don't want to diem right now. I'm happy.

Is it because we remember past instances when we thought we were happy before the shit hit the fan or we started smoking victory cigars before Smoking Joe floored Muhammad and we realized that we were kidding ourselves all along.

Is it because we are afraid of disappointment so we walk around faking didappointment to protect ourselves from the real thing. How we hate this evaluation, "I'm disappoinrted in you."

How could you be disappointed in me, I wasn't much to begin with even though I'm almost all that I think about.

Is it because our families of our traditions encourage crying in our beer. Was it Paul or John that sang about the luck of the Irish and how if ya had it you'd wish you was English.

Yeah there's a lotta rrasons that I could be unhappy right now.

Today I'm happy.

There I said it again.

God Bless me.