MacDonald 1 Final Draft: Essay #1 To Be Sad or Not to Be Sad, That is the Question Define happiness.

Is it, in Jennifer Seniors opinion a number that can be assigned to a state of being (422), or in Mark Kingwells words, trying to provide a one-sentence definition of it is always a mugs game (413)? Maybe it is something completely different that is woven into our genetics, earned by winning the lottery, or simply a written off as a side effect (429). Now define sadness. Something that occurs when a tragedy or accident touches our lives or what is felt when we are not able to associate with the feeling of happiness, for as Senior states, Theres an untold distance between knowing happiness and knowing about it (428). But if it is something that could be used to oppose happiness, why is it that the definition to happiness is so elusive and difficult to know, while sadness has the characteristic of being tangible and able to control? Happiness may be something that cannot be controlled and is not necessary for everyday life, and if sadness is an emotion just like it, why should it be essential to have in life too? That is because it simply cannot be controlled; there is biological proof that shows why we are affected by happiness and sadness. In my life, I try not to let emotions take too much control. I would much rather focus my time and energy into physical and intellectual dimensions. However, this does not mean I am totally void of emotions. In fact, they can be very helpful on some occasions. The necessity and emphasis that are put on emotions in our generation is crossing the line of ridiculousness. Many people think that there is a deeper meaning to everything, even the response, Im fine. Apparently, when someone answers this way, there are mass amounts of speculation concerning the persons response and what they really mean by it. Emotions have driven humans to stop

MacDonald 2 taking what is at face value, and instead flip it into something that is entirely untrue. Emotions drive things to stupid and irresponsible things and often cause more trouble than good. It can ruin something as small as a day at the park, all the way to a family. More often than not, emotions will be the root behind any evil: Jealousy comes about when people have a low selfimage, hate comes about when people have no control over another person, and frustration comes about when people have to write an essay about something you have no information on. It just so happens that happiness and sadness are two common emotions that people believe the sun rises and sets on. If there is never an experience of these emotions in life, technically you are not missing out. The fact of the matter is that emotions are not a necessity and are not required to survive. They simply are there because of a biological chemistry in a persons body. According to Kingwell, The studies, and others that demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of subjective satisfaction (414). This biological take on happiness shows that no matter how much a person tries, their level of happiness will be restricted. So, if high dopamine levels mean there is an experience of a sense of happiness, then the conclusion that can be reached is low dopamine levels correspond with sadness. Even Jennifer Senior speaks of something called positive psychology, created by psychologist, Marin Seligman. This idea centers around the study of happiness (424). Not only does this have to do with the science (rather than the feeling) of happiness, but it also shows that there is no control over it. I, being a logical and scientific person, belief that this conjecture is quite true. If it were not for the dopamine, then there would simply be no emotion at all. This chemical, and that all that happiness is, is what controls our happiness. Whether a person believes it is necessary or not is entirely up to them.

MacDonald 3 From my point of view, there is no reason for emotion: happiness, sadness, or in between. It simply is there because of the bodys chemistry and how people evolved into what we are today. All animals have emotions to some extent: horses, dogs, cats, even mice. However, they do not let it control their life; they prefer to act on instinct. Humans, on the other hand, being so complex, choose to let emotions take up a majority of their time and energy. There is a desire inside of us to let everything that happens have some sort of emotion connected to it. I am not saying that this is a bad thing, but it is not necessary to constantly make these parallels. If we did not have the different levels of dopamine, we would still survive, but more based on natural wants and needs, rather than irrational and emotional ones. That being said, I did score a 2.33 on Chris Petersons Authentic Happiness Inventory, something that does not surprise me. A majority of my answers were that I felt neither this nor that. I am simply content with how things are, and there is no need to strive to be a more emotional person. In fact, most of the memories I have, I cannot recall how I felt at that specific time. Take for instance the time I won Poetry Out Loud my senior year of high school. Sure, I remember feeling overjoyed that I did win, but now as I think back on it, I cannot feel that exact emotion. This is because my dopamine levels at that time are not the same as they are now. While then I was nervous and my nerves raised my dopamine level, now I am relaxed and calm typing a paper while sitting on my bed. These two different settings and actions are so isolated, that my emotions are not connected in any way. My biological workings created the elated feeling that I had, and unless my dopamine levels are raised to that height again, I will not be able to experience it again. Emotions are brought about by a biological reaction. Life would continue with or without them, therefore the necessity for it is completely null and void. Why should humans

MacDonald 4 lives be controlled by something as irrational and unstable as a feeling of happiness or sadness? Senior and Kingwell both argue their points about happiness very well, citing many ways to define and destroy the stereotypes of what a life of happiness and sadness are. Philosophers, doctors, psychologists, and even everyday people will waste their lives away trying to discover a meaning to something so scientifically simple, that they will let the belief of emotions being a necessity destroy their mind.

Work Cited Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J. Rosen. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 413+. Print.

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