[FUN WITH READING 2018-20202A] Key Happiness

20202朱莫亞 (CHU, MO-YA)

TITLE: Hector and the search for happiness

AUTHOR: Francois Lelord

YEAR: 2014

PRESS: Penguin Group

ISBN: 9780143126744

Key To Happiness

Hector was unsatisfied with himself even though he owned more money and social status than normal people, so he decided to go on a journey. From France to China to Africa to US, he tried hard and had lots of conversations about what made people happy.

In the story there were 23 lessons that Hector wrote down during the whole journey. I especially love lesson 3: “Many people see happiness only in the future.” To demonstrate this point, the author let Hector met an old friend who worked in China as a businessman. This person made and saved lots of money the same way as his colleagues did. Because they wanted to retire early so that they could have happiness by spending their money on traveling and so on. But the truth was that they were extremely unhappy right at the moment because all they did was work, work, and work. They didn’t have time for a lover, an interest, nor a family.

I think happiness is about enjoying the moment, instead of being unhappy at the moment but enjoying happiness afterwards. There’re always great views and kind people around along the way. We don’t have to wait until the end or until we have lots of money to earn the rights to be happy. Take my case for example. Now I have to study hard so I can go to the university I want to go . There’ll be happiness when I accomplish my goals, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have happiness during the way. Maybe few hours of TV can be cut, and I have to put more time as well as energy into study, but these factors can’t block the way between me and my own happiness. Having dinner with my parents is a kind of happiness, humming a song I like on the way to school is a kind of happiness, enjoying a  nice cup of latte is a kind of happiness. The simple happiness doesn’t have to wait until I reach my goals. I can enjoy them whenever I want.

Hence, I agree with the author, because he clearly doesn’t like the whole concept of “having happiness in the future.” And I like the way I demonstrate this point because I know that there is a lot of happiness around me as long as I’m willing to find it.