Happy Happy, Joy Joy

What music I am listening to : American Beauty, Grateful Dead. My new favorite song is "Ripple."


I used to be a big fan of the cartoon “Ren & Stimpy.” If you were a child in the 1990’s, then you will most likely have caught this cartoon on Saturday night programming on the Nickelodeon network. My father, brother, and I used to crowd around the television set in order to enjoy the outlandish antics of the Ren, the Chihuahua, and Stimpy, his feline companion. (My mother, incidentally, used to believe this show to be extremely sophomoric and somewhat vulgar. As my taste palate has matured with my old age, I tend to concur with my mother’s judgement…)

My two favorite Ren & Stimpy moments revolve around two clever songs that became the crowning achievements during the show’s television tenure. One was the anthem for the Canadian Kilted Yaksman, the words of which, out of space consideration, I will not currently offer for your perusal. The other song, my personal favorite, was, of course, the “Happy Happy, Joy Joy” song. The chorus is simply the words, “Happy happy, joy joy," repeated continually throughout a normal chord progression. During the rousing refrain, the singer of the song, obviously a send-up of childhood songsters such as Raffi, asks, “I don’t think your happy enough! That’s right, I’ll teach you to be happy!” Naturally, the humor lies in the irony behind a gruff, semi-irate children’s “entertainer” encouraging youngsters to be happy.

We, as human beings, are programmed with an innate desire to be happy. But what is happiness, anyway? The constitution of the United States declares that all men [people] have a right to pursue happiness, whatever the hell that means. Lately, my companions in this journey through the rocky roads of seminary have been wrestling with this idea of happiness. For some, happiness lies in the finding of great romance; for others, happiness is self-acceptance. When we are but small children, happiness is certainly less elusive. But as we age, happiness becomes fickle, transient, and down-right frustratin.’ As our hearts become afflicted with the stings of hurt that life can sometimes assail on us, happiness is but an impracticality, the fodder of musicals and children’s programming.

I find it interesting that the constitution does not guarantee happiness, but rather gives us a “license to hunt,” metaphorically speaking (well, unless you are Dick Cheney). We are all driven to seek out that which will make us happy. We are instructed from the earliest of ages to make good “life choices” that will secure our life’s happiness; we are socialized by parents, churches, friends, the media, etc. to pursue options that will ultimately lead to happiness. For example, my parents instilled in me a yearning for higher education, because, according to their experience, higher education will ultimately lead to success which our society equates with happiness. Successful people are happy people—according to American societal constructs.

I had a close friend ask me yesterday, “When will I ever be happy?” You can’t fault a person for asking, “when will this ongoing pursuit for happiness come to an end?” and I can’t offer any sage advice without sounding maudlin or hackneyed.

So I won’t.

Instead, I am going to leave you with the lyrics from a portion of the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. And yes, I realize the non-sequiter of referencing both Ren & Stimpy and Charlie Brown in the same blog post. And yes, these lyrics, might, at first, seem to be just the maudlin response I was trying to avoid. However, I find these words, echoed in the innocent voices of childhood, to be poignant and honest.


“Happiness” From “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”

HAPPINESS IS FINDING A PENCIL.
PIZZA WITH SAUSAGE, TELLING THE TIME.
HAPPINESS IS LEARNING TO WHISTLE.
TYING YOUR SHOE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.
HAPPINESS IS PLAYING THE DRUM IN YOUR OWN SCHOOL BAND.
AND HAPPINESS IS WALKING HAND IN HAND.

HAPPINESS IS TWO KINDS OF ICE CREAM.
KNOWING A SECRET, CLIMBING A TREE.
HAPPINESS IS FIVE DIFFERENT CRAYONS.
CATCHING A FIREFLY, SETTING HIM FREE.
HAPPINESS IS BEING ALONE EVERY NOW AND THEN.
AND HAPPINESS IS COMING HOME AGAIN.

HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAY TIME AND NIGHT TIME TOO.
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT'S LOVED BY YOU.

HAPPINESS IS HAVING A SISTER.
SHARING A SANDWICH, GETTING ALONG.
HAPPINESS IS SINGING TOGETHER WHEN DAY IS THROUGH,
AND HAPPINESS IS THOSE WHO SING WITH YOU.
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME TOO.
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT'S LOVED BY YOU.