World Views

Merriam-Websterdefines happiness as “a state of well-being and contentment.” This suggests a general divide between those who have happiness and those who do not, or the rich versus the poor, or the privileged versus the disenfranchised. Zooming in closer, there is the clinical definition used by psychiatrists, whereas “a happy person is someone who experiences frequent positive emotions, such as joy, interest, and pride, and infrequent (though not absent) negative emotions, such as sadness, anxiety and anger” (Khoddam). How likely is it that an average person will experience joy “frequently”? Is frequently being defined here as at least half of a day?

In "The Whole World is Watching," Patricia Vaccarino reminds us that fifty years have passed since the Chicago Democratic Convention anti-war protests took place in August, 1968. Now in 2018, the whole world is indeed watching to see what Americans will do to restore normalcy to the White House. Restoring normalcy means we need to take back our democracy.