when are we HAPPIEST???

When are we Happiest? *********************Unfortunately the world is an unhappy place, full of misery andsuffering. We hear of senseless acts of violence and needless deathsevery day. Money and more pointedly the lack of it is a source ofgreat unhappiness all over the world.Reigning supreme over all other miseries in the western world ismatters of the heart. Love, betrayal, loneliness and unrequited lovebring a whole new dimension to unhappiness as these are rarelyfleeting moments of sadness but cancers, slowly eating away at ourpride, resolve and our souls.I'm not saying that it is impossible to find happiness in this worldonly that sometimes happiness is not true happiness - it is more areprieve from being miserable. Sometimes when we believe that we arehappy we are fooling ourselves because the reality is that we are nottruly elated and happy, we just aren't sad for a while.Some of the times that we are genuinely happy is if we are luckyenough to find someone that we love and reciprocates our feelings. Weare happy on the birth of our children but some of that happiness isus already living vicariously through the new born because of theirinnocence.And therein lies the root of happiness, innocence. We are happiest as children, innocent and untainted by the ills of theworld, if we are lucky and do not suffer abuse.We are happiest before we see the true face of the world with it'sreligious and territorial wars, senseless slaughter and waste of humanlives. Before we know anything of affairs of the heart and the painand pleasure that love can bring and take away.Our days and our thoughts are uncluttered with things like worry andfear, hatred and pain. We blissfully run through fields and the mostimportant concern we might have is whether our mother will shout at usfor getting a hole in yet another pair of shoes.We have no idea or concern as to what the future holds in store. Weface it with no fear or pre-conceptions and our dreams are boundlessand intact. We are oblivious to the fact that once we exit childhoodthere will insurmountable challenges in our way so we run and play,climb trees and throw balls whilst the world waits patiently around usready to shatter our illusions and hit us hard with reality once ourchildhoods are over.When reality hits, it strips away our hopes and dreams unless we clingon to them vehemently and defiantly, our innocence falls around thesame time and realisation dawns that the world is not a playground.There are bills to pay, there is work to do, hearts to be broken andlives to be lost. Mortality looms as we realise all of a sudden how anendless childhood seems so long ago and so fleeting and we realisethat we are looking through the eyes of an adult at other childrenplaying in the field, laughing and running with their innocence intactand we realise that it is that innocence that must be protected aslong as possible. Because we know that when that innocence leaves themhappiness will only visit from time to time rather than be a constantcompanion.We realise and remember as we see children playing the happiness thatwe enjoyed and we realise that we we were happiest as children beforewe were tainted by reality and responsibilities.As we watch them play, just for a moment happiness turns our way andsmiles like an old friend and the child in each of us smiles backwarmly