Happiness Blog Post

I chose to respond to the question #3 letter a.

“A gambler who has lost all evening makes one last bet with money that has been saved for the down payment on a house and wins back twice the sum. Could you justify the risk?” To me, he never should have made the bet. He didn’t look at the long-term risk. He mad a Hedonism move. He thought of nothing but of what he wanted in that moment. And many people would say that making that move was okay, but I say that he shouldn’t have done it. I’m sure he had been saving for that money for a long time, and then he bet it all away. The odds were against him and although he won, he easily could have lost it all.

            This man is clearly a hedonist. He bet his entire down payment on one bet, and got lucky enough to win. If he had lost, he would have been devastated. If I were in this situation, there is no way I would have done that. I am all for looking and planning ahead. I am more of a believer of Epicureanism. This gambler should have thought about his decision and the effects that would come with it if he lost instead of only thinking about the moment. He was extremely lucky that he won, but there is no way to justify his risk.

            Life can be about taking risks, but not risks as big as he took. I believe in taking risks, but in moderation. Personally, I only take risks if there is a good chance that there is a good outcome to the risk. This gambler had all odds against him, yet he still took the risk. In this situation the risk was not in his favor.  You have to take risks to live in this world, no doubt about it, but those risks have to be realistic. 

Into the Woods-Blog Post #2

         “Wishes may bring problems such that you regret them. Better that, though, than to never get them.” Many people make wishes, and when they come true they regret ever making them. But does that mean that they were better off never making them? To me when you make a wish, it is what you want more than anything in that moment. If you wish for something, you must want it really badly. For me that wish would always be worth wishing for. Even though you might regret the wish later, you still wanted it at one time, in that moment.

The characters in, Into the Woods, make many wishes. The baker and his wife wish for a child. The witch says she will grant this wish if they can bring back items to her; one of which is a white cow. Jack has this cow, and ends up selling his cow to the baker for beans. These beans are magical and end up creating a beanstalk that has a giant at the top. As a result of the giant, the baker’s baby was in danger. A giant ruined the result of this “wanting a baby wish”. Now they have to protect their baby from this giant. Was the wish for the baby worth it, if they can’t even protect it now? Are the results of the wish worth the baby? For me, the answer would be yes. They wanted that baby, and they got it. Even if they can’t protect their baby now, they still had happiness for a short amount of time. They got their wish, and happiness.

I see this a lot in my life. I will wish for something, get it, then regret wishing for it. One time in particular, I wished to go to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. My friend and I ended up getting tickets to the game, but the entire game it was pouring rain. When it started raining, I completely regretted getting those tickets. It was a moment where I wondered why I would wish for this. But at the moment of the wishing, I had no idea that it was going to rain. I had to remind myself that seeing the game is what I wanted the most, and that is what I got.

          Wishing is risky. You can’t rely on your wishes. They are only something we can hope for. Wishes are always worth wishing. It is something you want in the moment, and everyone always says to “live in the moment,” right? So, even when the aftermath of the wish is not what you expected, you still got your wish, and that is all you wanted. 

Into the Woods-1

"The harder to get, the better you have." This proverb has some truth to it. It is true in the sense of hard work.  The harder you work for something, the better the result. Take school for example, earning a PhD is extremely difficult, but the result is great. This proverb could also go along with the saying, "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it." The more you have to work for something, the better the outcome. There is a time when this proverb is not true, and that is when you think about luck. People can do nothing, and still have more than the people that work hard. For example, winning the lottery. The individuals, who win the lottery, just buy a ticket and then are lucky enough to have won millions of dollars. They didn't have to work for it, yet the outcome is life changing. Many people don't believe in luck; they think that everyone has to work for what they have. I disagree. I believe that there is luck, but I also believe that working hard gets you the best results. When you have to work for something, the more you appreciate it. Also, you can't rely on luck one. One must work hard so the outcome is the best it can be.