« Like a blossoming flower | Main | Always There »
March 09, 2005
The Search
Oh my goodness. I just had a conversation with someone who has everything you could ever want, except happiness. He is not sick. He has a job. He has a nice family. Nobody in his family is dying. He has money. He drives a nice car. He lives in a lovely house. I discovered that he is using substances to try and help him find the happiness that eludes him.
I am not the person to tell him how to run his life, so I did the only thing I know how. I sent him one of my stories. I pray my words might sow some healing seeds deep within in his soul. I fear if he continues he will destroy his life and those around him…
Starla the Wishing Star woke up one day to find her happiness completely gone. It had simply vanished. Disappeared entirely.
She looked in her closet, she looked under her bed, and she even checked the attic, but it was nowhere to be found.
Starla spent days and days searching. She even visited the library and found piles of happiness, but none of it was hers.
She went to the doctor. He gave her some pills to help her feel better, but the medicine made her sleepy and she felt rather strange.
Starla bought a shiny red sports car in which she traveled while she searched. She thought having a brand new car would make her happy. It didn't.
She tried everything to get happy.
She ate too much.
Then she ate too little.
She took an adventure vacation.
She retreated to the mountains.
She drank many single malts.
But no matter how hard she tried, Starla could not find her happiness anywhere.
She grew so unhappy that she found herself crying all the time.
She was so sad she found it difficult to continue her job as a ‘Wishing Star’.
“How can I help others if I can’t help myself?” she thought.
That afternoon she decided to have one last look for her happiness. On her way through a neighborhood park she passed a homeless lady who was speaking to herself.
“People say I’m homeless, but they are wrong. I do have a home! My home is in my heart. Yes, I have a home and all I need is a house to put it in.”
The homeless lady stopped and looked up at the sky.
“Fools,” she said. “I wish people would judge me by my good soul and not my bad luck.”
Starla couldn’t help but smile at the lady. For a second she felt a wave of happiness wash over her, but it was gone in an instant.
"I think I'll have some hot chocolate and sit in the park," thought Starla. "If that doesn't make me just the tiniest bit happy, then nothing in this world will."
She drank the hot chocolate and felt no joy at all. Nothing!
"Perhaps life is not so great," she whispered to herself.
As she wept, two men from a moving company walked by her carrying a large mirror.
"Afternoon," they chirped. “Great day isn’t it?”
Starla did not reply. She just stared at her reflection in the mirror as they passed.
She sat for a few moments, completely lost in her own misery. Then she suddenly jumped up.
She dashed after the men and kissed each one on the cheek.
"Thank you, thank you!" she yelled and hurried away. She was so happy she almost burst.
The men did not know what they had done to deserve such a joyous greeting.
"I guess some people are just born happy," said one of the men.
Starla smiled as she made her way home.
Seeing her own image in the mirror the men were carrying helped Starla to remember where her happiness was. Inside herself. Exactly where she had left it. She was so busy looking for it everywhere else that she forgot to look in the place where it always is. Inside!
Starla picked up her wish list and with a happy heart, flew off to help other people reach their dreams.
Back in the park the two movers stopped to take a break. “You know?” said the first man. “It’s the holiday season and I love getting gifts, but to me the best present anyone could give is the gift of sharing and caring.”
“I agree,” said the second man. “The way that little girl shared her happiness with us earlier just made my day.”
“Let’s pass it on,” said the first man. He picked a flower from a nearby bush and walked toward an old homeless lady sitting on a park bench nearby.
He gave her the flower. The lady smiled for the first time in many months.
“Hey, can I get you a cup of coffee or something?” said the man, warmly.
“Thank you so much,” said the lady.
“We’ll be right back with coffee and a bite to eat,” said the man.
After the men left, the lady used her handkerchief to wipe her tears. “You heard my wish,” she whispered, looking up at the tiny star that twinkled way above her in the early evening sky. “Thank you.”
“No,” whispered Starla, “Thank you.”
Posted by trevor at March 9, 2005 01:36 PM
Comments
Hi Trevor :) Yay you put a comments function on the blog! That's fantastic.
I love this entry and I feel for your friend. Do you know if he has depression? I ask because I've been fighting depression for years and it makes it extremely difficult to find your own happiness within yourself. Very little externally can help either so life becomes pretty miserable. Do you think that's the case with your friend?
Posted by: Harmony at March 12, 2005 05:31 AM
Hi Harmony - thanks for your comment. I can imagine how hard it is to find happiness when you're fighting depression. My friend did visit a doctor and is aparrently not depressed. That's just one doctor's opinion though. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Posted by: Trevor at March 12, 2005 07:50 AM