Pursuit of Happiness

We have this sign hanging up in our kitchen. I thought it was pretty cute when I bought it because it matches our patriotic decor. The other day I looked at it and really thought about its meaning. It reads, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." I am sure you are familiar with this phrase, as it is probably one of the most famous lines of the Declaration of Independence. But what does this mean for us, for our country? What is this pursuit of happiness that it speaks of?

It seems like most everyone is continuously and rather aimlessly on this mysterious said pursuit, but do they really ever find this so called happiness? You can walk any street of any big city in America and probably answer that one for yourself. Seems to me as if everyone is on this desperate pursuit but only to be overwhelmed with society's demands and standards. Its like an endless road of discontentment.

I appreciate our freedom, including our freedom to create our own definition of happiness, but we are really loosing touch of what happiness even is. How can you find happiness if you are clueless to its real meaning? The declaration never states that among our unalienable rights are happiness itself....no, it just says we have the right to PURSUE it. I think it is safe to say that most of us are on quite the blind pursuit. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this phrase is full of pure evilness, I just think it has become undoubtedly misinterpreted.

What do you think would be the outcome if my cute little sign read, "Life, Liberty and Service to Others?"