Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Happiness

I sat outside of Walmart for about two hours watching people going in and out. It occurred to me that you could easily distinguish the people having a good day and those who weren't. The other day my mom asked me to watch a movie with her called Peaceful Warrior. The movie focuses on how people perceive life and achieving happiness. I decided to pursue this myself by taking a picture of people the exact moment I asked, "Are You Happy?". I concluded that in taking the picture before they had time to think you allow me to unveil if they were telling the truth. With these two men in the above pictures there was a surprising result. I was sitting on the bench watching the cars pass when the man on the right rode up on an old mountain bike. He asked how my day was going. I responded well, and asked him if I could take a picture of him while asking a question. At first he was hesitant but then he agreed. As I focused the camera on this face I asked, "Are You Happy?". He smiled and said yes without hesitation. I thanked him and he entered the store with a smile on his face. The man on the right had been watching from in front of the door and walked my way. I asked how his day was going and he said it had been long. He was about to be done with his shift of ringing the bell for the Salvation Army so I asked him also if I could take his picture. He asked if it was for a survey. I kind of laughed and said no I was just a student at Rocky. Again I said I would take the picture when I asked him a question so as to capture his expression. When I asked, "Are You Happy?", he bluntly said no. It took me by surprise. He said, " Give me some money and I'll be happy". At first I thought that he was kidding then I thought he must meant donate, but then he said, "Isn't that what makes us happy?" It baffled me that a man that rang a bell all day and saw countless people giving money as donations, considered that money was the root of happiness.

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