Guest Post: What Makes Me Happy

Hey guys! My friend Vicki is going to guest post on my blog today! Check out her blog at www.societalshowdown.blogspot.com <--- check it out! Her blog is about different ways societies come together and grow apart. Anyway, here is her post. Enjoy!

 "Everyone deserves, and should have, one thing or activity that makes them completely happy. For some that happiness comes in the form of prayer, perhaps playing tennis, maybe sitting and talking with your mom, or even just waking up to the smell of coffee. However, everyone should have one simple activity, which makes you completely happy. I’d like to explain something that I do that makes me completely happy, and that thing is garage sale-ing, as is the proper name for it. Garage sale-ing takes me to a nostalgic place - perhaps the reason why I’m so blissfully happy when my mom asks me when I wake up on a Saturday morning, “want to go to a garage sale?”

Let me explain.

For as long as I can remember, my mom and I wake up early every Saturday morning during the summer and go to local garage sales. Sometimes it’s just one, but on the jack-pot weekends we go to five or six. Thursday’s afterschool my mom and I scan and scrutinize the local paper for upcoming garage sales and then map out each of our stops. We decide which sales we will hit first based on its relative closeness and how good the description of its goods sounds. A garage sale ad including items like tools, furniture, car parts, etc. gets low-priority, but ads with descriptions like household goods, knickknacks, and miscellaneous are bound to get a top spot.

My mom began garage sale-ing with her mom when she was a kid, and so it was with my mom and I. Garage sale-ing has become a type of tradition, with each ritual being carried out every Saturday morning in the summer.

Garage sale-ing is more than finding a good deal on something; it’s finding the gem amongst piles of rubble and the surge of excitement you feel when you know you’ve found something good. I can’t imagine the thousands of dollars we have saved by garage sale-ing, but the best is coming home with each new good and finding a way to repurpose it in our house. As I look around my kitchen, I notice all of the things we have collected over the years and putting them all together to create a home.

Part of the happiness and joy I get from garage sale-ing comes from the fact that I get to spend so much time with my mom and doing something that we both equally love. The other part comes from the excitement of buying an old antique item with a story behind it or just finding something really unique and interesting. One of my best finds was an old, engraved jewelry box with oriental details marked at $6. It wasn’t until a few years after I bought the jewelry box, I discovered a small gold and jade ring in a hidden compartment of the box – a true deal-busting find.

Even if I were a multi-billionaire, I’d continue to garage sale, and that’s simply because I love doing it. So, readers, what’s that one simple thing that brings you happiness? Happiness can be such a complex word with so many different meanings and connotations, but it’s pretty simple to sense the joy in going to a garage sale with your mom on a summer Saturday morning."

Happiness in Helping Others = Harm?

Recently, there has been much hype about KONY 2012, especially with their awareness video, which has gone viral.

I first heard of the Invisible Children organization when they first came to my school to give the school a presentation on the LRA and the current effects of the issue. When I saw the video, I felt helpless. How can I help their predicament? However, if I could do something, I’d gladly do it. At that moment, the only solution IC had provided was donating money to the booth right outside the auditorium by buying the IC shirts, bracelets, stickers, etc. In order to feel like I at least did SOMETHING to help, I donated the ten bucks I brought for lunch that day.

Did I feel better that I helped? Well, kind of. I’ve always been frustrated with the fact that “help” somehow magically boils down to throwing money at an organization, but I felt somewhat better that I could help.

However, now that I look back at what I did, what I did was unbelievably naive.

Not that any of what I did was necessarily “bad,” but I was basically a fool to get sucked in a sappy story, get emotional, and donate everything I had that day. Sorry, that’s harsh, but in essence, it’s what happened.

I did not once reflect if indeed the proceeds are going where they are suppose to go? Are the proceeds being used to the best of its abilities? And most important question of all, can it actually HARM someone?

This is the problem that many people face. And Folks, I don’t blame you. However, I urge you to take everything with a grain of salt. Here is a letter from Ugandan Amber Ha to the Founder of IC, who gives another perspective of the issue and outlines the major flaws of IC.

She mentions things that weren’t even shown in the original KONY 2012 video! She mentions the atrocities of the Ugandan government, and how the LRA was initially a rebellion against the government. She talks about some of the progress, the lapse of time, and the relative change in events. She talks about how Ugandans feel that IC might hurt them more than help them by bringing more instability to a region of current relative peace.

Some valid questions did come to my mind: Why wasn’t the issue being redirected to the Ugandan government? If Ha’s word’s are true, then why is IC continuing to expand its campaign? Will all things bad come to an end with the murder of Kony (which is actually pronounced Ko-en by Acholi people)?

In a discussion in my Current Events class, these questions were raised. I learned that Ugandan President Museveni is indeed responsible for the accused crimes against humanity, however, his political decisions haven’t necessarily displayed his wrong-doings to the public. It’s also interesting that the U.S. supports Museveni politically, and in fact has sent troops to help Ugandan government to get rid of LRA (which was started because of the government itself). Interesting, Huh?

Neither am I advocating Ha’s position, nor am I saying IC is good or bad: all I’m saying is knowing one side of an issue, a story, a life, or simply ANYTHING is absolutely dangerous. You don’t know the whole issue, until you get all perspectives on it. On Ha’s tumblr, I found an interesting TED talk about the danger of one story. PLEASE DO WATCH IT. Her words, her experiences, her ideas are absolutely amazing. (Btw, this is my favorite TED.) She alerts us that the knowledge of only one side of the story is the reason why judgements, stereotypes, and increasing misunderstandings are born.

Don’t fall for anything at cost value. Think twice before hearing/seeing something. Find as many sides to the argument and question reality, because things may not be as they seem.

P.S. Also, Just food for thought, Would you ever wear a shirt that said, "Hitler 1940" ? Does a criminal really need fame ? Is THAT fighting or fueling the problem ? ...

The Little Things in Life

As a high school senior looking back at my high school experience, the thing that stand out to me are people, events, and things I would have never expected to stand out. NEVER.

I expected my high school memories to consist of the biggest and most obvious parts of my life. However, this reflection was a mirror of the smallest, some of the stupidest, unexpected, unplanned and, most of all, fun-filled moments of my life. I remember the smallest things that gave me extreme happiness, which again, I never really expected.

This reflection was a bit of an "aha" moment for me and true realization of the utterly clichéed saying that happiness is in the journey, not something you get at your destination. Looking back, the smallest and most surprising moments were the ones that were filled with happiness; they're the things that stand out.

All these thoughts reminded me of a video we watched in our sophomore English class, a video that inspires me to cherish each moment we all have, no matter how insignificant it may seem, and make the most of them (because that just might be the moment we'll always remember.)