The?taiga?is that extremely cold forest area found in Russia, Canada and other countries. Some years may see only 50 to 100 frost-free days. Typical pictures show men with ice hanging from their beards. A friend sent me a video about a family living in the Siberian taiga. Believe it or not, the title is The Happy People!
Happy? Gimme a break! How could someone be happy living without any of today’s conveniences?
Yet when I reflect on the plantation people among whom I spent my youth, they certainly seemed happier and more contented than today’s generation. What could have gone wrong? What makes for happiness in today’s world?
First you need to be able to get on. I haven’t been able to get on for the last month or so. Or, at least, to stay on.
Whenever I got on, in two minutes I’d be off again.
LIME has been very good this time around. Excellent technicians came three days running. On Tuesday one fellow spent half day climbing poles between here and Belleplaine. He hopes I will now be able to get on.
My wife couldn’t care less. She never touches the computer. But I like to do background checks for the column and it’s been rough. Just shows that even I have become a sucker.
Some advice for LIME: don’t make your operators end up with: “Is there anything else you would like me to do for you?” I mean, what else can they do for you? I asked a fellow on Monday night if he could get me a roti. No such luck.
Worse yet, in the context of today’s marriages, a man who hasn’t got on the Internet for four weeks is a man who hasn’t had a little browse for a month. When a young lady asks if she can do anything else for you, it’s way too tempting to ask: “Could you just breathe deep and moan a bit?”
Frustration comes from being in situations like that where you have no control. In contrast, the plantation man was in full control. He made his own bed from khus khus, his mat a crocus bag. His stove was a few bricks. He grew much of his own food. His electricity, telephone or water never went off. His appliances never broke down.
As we let technology increasingly take over our lives, we become more at the mercy of others. A recipe for disappointment. More possessions mean more debt, more worries but without a corresponding increase in satisfaction.
And consider this: it is the aim of every business to keep you dissatisfied. For a very simple reason.
If you are happy with your car, computer or cellphone, you wouldn’t want a newer model, would you? So business keeps telling you you’re missing out on something, you won’t be really happy until you go for the superdooper deluxe. Soon to be superseded . . . .
But happiness is about a lot more. I had a birthday earlier this week and paused to reflect on a reasonably happy life. Here are a few random thoughts why:
The Reverend Tudor’s exam advice – “Blessed is he who expects nothing for he shall not be disappointed”.
Accepting that women are inscrutable. (“Inscrutable” doesn’t mean what it sounds like, but what it sounds like may also be true.) I mean, how many times must you tell them that cutting seasoning on a plate will dull a knife? And then there’s the phone cord thing.
I dread rushing into some lady’s house to call for help – someone’s trapped in a burning car – only to find her phone cord knotted up. And it takes me half hour to unravel it before I phone.
Happiness is family. Like two-year-old grandson Dom who won’t drink his juice unless he brings a cupful for grandad.
Happiness is having a clean conscience, unfairing no one, doing the right thing, paying your debts, sleeping like a top.
Happiness is this year’s birthday CD, Carole and Ian Bishop with Phyllis Clarke doing it nice. Guataka Christmas parang.
Happiness is having a job you love so work is endless pleasure. Like milking goats.
Finally, happiness is knowing there’s a Creator out there, large and in charge. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
•? Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator.
