Happiness and Compromise

(Skip to Para 4 for actual content if you are not used to O Henry’s short stories!)

My Blog writings, which are little more sacred than The Vedas themselves, as no one reads them, are getting more philosophical day after day, night after night, for those who prefer to live in nights. They use a word 'night life', which, an evangelist from their clan told me, is a close cousin of 'life after death'. Friends, this is not the topic of our discussion. Did I say discussion? I would expect those who have been forced to this 'discussion', will forgive me as, It’s my habit to take readers for granted. I sometimes test reader’s concentration by intentionally deviating from the topic. But readers have assured me that I did them no harm, by not reading it!

So it was about getting philosophical. Churning abstract concepts is what philosophy is. I would take an excuse of my ignorance, in the history and fundamentals of philosophy, to not to elaborate any further in showing my complete ignorance! You would soon get to know that this write up indeed discusses some things like happiness and compromises, as if Bertrand Russell and other British saints only lived a worthless life, failing to explain properly, what they wanted to explain. That is no sin, I shall declare, as even they did their bit towards showing their ignorance in what Indian philosophers had done in the same field when days and years were considered not worth counting!

Now that I am qualified as any other writer should be. We can talk about happiness. I am not so happy about it, you see. If I were, why would I sit down to write this? Fun aside; we have some serious business today. (As if we had nothing until today!)

Happiness is, many a times a byproduct of compromise. Assume that, you do not want to compromise. You would be left with little or no happiness. Compromise, put in another way is
the cost of happiness. This is outrageously costly, isn’t it? How do we define happiness then? I do not do what many people have tried unsuccessfully. I would rather try something new and let others try after I fail! Is compromise a bad guy altogether? Definitely, not. It is a good thing if used in its own place and time. Significant question is compromising on what? This can make a major difference. Petty things in life can always be compromised, as they should be. Lo, we will be happy. Foundations of our personality should never be compromised (I do not use the highly abused words principle and integrity). As many of us do not know, what the foundation of our personality is, we will end up compromising on those things as well. That would lead to unhappiness, contrary to our expectation. Happiness is, many a times the byproduct of compromise. Sometimes it is not!

~r