Starting with our Founding Fathers and our Declaration of Independence, Americans have been preoccupied with a concept of Happiness with a capital “H”.

I’ll compress some phrases from the “Declaration.” “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created Equal ... are endowed by our Creator ... with unalienable rights ... among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness ... to secure these rights governments are institute among men to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Dating back to almost 400 years before Christ, philosophers like Aristotle have pondered mankinds’ gifts of rationality as they sought, (pursued) Happiness, an activity in accord with moral virtue and common sense.

It’s hard to be happy if your body is wracked with pain or mistreatment, but that should be the rare exception. Our country has been less happy since 9/11 because a feeling of security and safety is concomitant to full blown Happiness.

It was George Gobel who said that money doesn’t bring happiness but, if you have money, you can buy a railroad ticket and go looking for Happiness.

Would you call yourself happy? If not, think on it. Why not? Some people sprinkle unhappiness in their wake. Help them or avoid them. I like the young congressman, former quarterback who says, “I wake up every morning grateful.” J.C. Watts, a happy guy.

When you waken and put your feet on the floor say, “Life is good.” Smile at yourself in the bathroom mirror.

If you lie, steal, commit other crimes, Happiness is an unlikely ingredient in your life or that of those around you. Promote Happiness. If you hear something amusing, pass it on three times before the sun sets. It’ll possess you or you it forever. Look around you. Wake up! Yogi Berra says you can see a lot if you observe. Count your blessings by the dozen. Do good deeds, favors. Pursue our hard-fought freedoms, the traits of our frontier ancestors.

The human animal (you, me) has an affection for virtue that trails Happiness behind it.

250 or so years ago, European-New World people had an ENLIGHTENMENT, which ushered in elevated thought, clear thinking. Morality is based on reason that has links to Happiness, goodness.

Living close to a grouch debilitates the environment. Even your final days can be imbued with happy memories and anticipations. Don’t let a day pass without a good deed and pass it on.

The world is filled with grumps these days, prophesying our descendents’ doomed futures. Let’s head them off at the pass with a clear-cut better plan.

I’m not describing some sappy, lightweight Happiness. I’m describing deep affection, glowing memories, truth, beautiful music and art. Love for others. Visionary religion, philosophy or attitude or touching or conversation, or smiles, or laughter, or participation, or quietude. You can really see a lot when you observe.

So – the United States got a solid start – a “do-over for the corrupt and compromised cultures of Europe – a chance to start the world anew.” (Emery) We don’t “tolerate stupidity in government, corruption in government, laziness in government, neglect in government ... if necessary we’re a pest in government. But we expect government to do a good job and should praise it when it does, And more effectively than other citizens in most other countries, we change it fast when it makes a botch of things.

We got this way because the people who migrated here over a 400-year period performed a feat of courage in their determination to create a “city on a hill.” They left an unhappy place to go to a new one they could make a happy one. They shared a deep-seated intensity to better themselves, to work hard and improve the space they occupied. This knitted them into a special civilization, made us unique, vigorous.

There was always free or almost free land, which tended to bring gladness, elation, a drive not to endure a status quo. Freedom meant exultation, ebullience, peace of mind. The mind was free to focus, be at peace, cheerful, heartened, reach out, assist others. Thieving and hurtfulness were transparently stupid, self-destructive, self-defeating, morally crippling to those who followed close behind.

Populations elsewhere lack this self-expectation to self-improve, to reinvent yourself even while you sleep. In much of the world, the earth stays the same. An historian named Painter writes that, “in the United States the earth does move while you sleep.” H.G. Wells wrote, “History is a race between education and catastrophe.”

I recently attended a lunchoen held by a local service club and sat on one end to observe the comings and goings of the 100 or so members, men and women. The speaker was a member whose father had died of Alzheimer’s. Each week we donate small individual sums to a bucket at each table for pure research into the cure of this fatal, disgusting disease.

I watched my fellow members pitching in their coins and dollars. This, dear reader, is small town America doing its routine duty; every church, temple, every club, all of us, men, women and children, every year, every week; a phenomenon unmatched anywhere else. (Rotary International has donated $700 million to stamp out polio). And we were happy that day – not a frown in the room. Men and women, rich and poor, successful and hanging in there; white, black and Asian, academics and clerics; (opened with prayer), patriotic (said Pledge of Allegiance), jockeying around to make room for each other; going back to get more salad, chuckling. Relaxed and Happy people, doing Happy service in a Happy cause; relentlessly, week following week, no overhead, not a penny diverted. Focused, focused, focused. Speaking for myself, I found the experience exhilarating. It was indeed a Happy time. We were, all of us, in full pursuit of Happiness.

n Attorney Austin Cunningham has been the president of five business companies and in 1988 was named Outstanding Elder Citizen of the Year for South Carolina.

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