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Happiness

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Darrell Castle talks about happiness and whether it is possible to achieve a happy state of mind at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018.


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HAPPINESS

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report.  Today is Friday, December 22, 2017, and on today’s report I will be talking about some reasons to be happy as we approach Christmas and the end of 2017.  The Castle Report is dedicated to bringing you my perspective on the news or the things happening in our world and admittedly those things are usually bad, but today we look at happiness as an object in and of itself, and some very good reasons to be happy as we begin 2018.

We might assume that people who reside in the United States, the world’s economic powerhouse, would be the happiest people on earth, but sadly that is not the case.  The World Happiness Report, yes there is such a thing, reports that on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very happy and 1 being very unhappy, Americans are just not very happy.  In 1950, Americans rated 7.5, but today the rating is 5.5.  With all the advances in technology, medical science, economics, and civil rights, we are far less happy now than we were in 1950.

The US GDP per capita rose by a factor of 3 during that 67 year period but real wages relative to inflation have been stagnant or falling since we left the gold standard in August 1971; ahh but I digress.  I’m starting to do what comes naturally to me, and that Is to explain why people are so unhappy and then tell you why they should be unhappy, but not today.  No, today I’m going to give you only good news and tell you why we should be exceedingly happy, especially if you are of my daughter’s generation.

Why should we be happy and why do we want to be happy?  Happiness is the state that everyone wants above all things.  How many times have you used or heard someone use the expression,”I just want my children to be happy”.  It seems to be a state of mind that we can achieve for only very brief moments in our lives, and yet we would literally give anything we possess to have it.  In fact, most of the things we possess we acquired in an effort to be happy.  Are you really happier in your current house, your current car than in your last?  I doubt it, but that promise of happiness in the things we acquire drives the modern consumer economy.

Perhaps we can agree that money does not bring happiness, or said another way; happiness is not something you buy.  I will argue, though, that lack of money can bring a lot of misery into your life.  Aristotle wrote that happiness is the final destination, or final cause, as he called it.  Without the desire to be happy, we would digress and never find our final destination.  He said that happiness is the most valuable asset that a person can acquire and it is something worth spending one’s life in the pursuit of.

Let’s take a few moments then, and look at some reasons to be very happy here in America, at the end of 2017 and the start of 2018.  These first few reasons are numbered and come from 99 Reasons 2017 was a Great Year, courtesy of John Mauldin’s newsletter “Thoughts from the Frontline.”

  1. Death is retreating around the world. The world health organization has announced a new vaccine effective enough to end cholera.
  2. Cancer deaths have dropped by 25% in the United States since 1991, saving more than 2 million lives. Breast cancer deaths have fallen by 39%, saving the lives of 322,600 women.
  3. For the first time in history half of all the people on earth with HIV are getting treatment and aids deaths have dropped by one-half since 2005.
  4. Leprosy is now easily treatable. The number of worldwide cases has dropped by 97% since 1985 and plans are to eradicate the disease completely by 2020.
  5. Global deaths from Tuberculosis have fallen by 37% since 2000, saving an estimated 53 million lives.

It seems that life-extension technology will eradicate most of humanity’s greatest killers within 10 years.  Life beyond 100 years seems a real possibility, especially for the generation or two younger than mine.  Now if they can just keep from destroying the world with nuclear war, or dying in traffic accidents or from some addiction, but we move on.

Let me add some of my own items to this list of reasons to be happy.

  1. The world’s environment is improving pretty much everywhere.  New sources of energy are being developed and especially solar is improving in performance and dropping in costs.
  2. People around the world are improving economically and gradually the oppression of poverty is being lifted.
  3. In the United States, the child poverty rate has dropped to an all time low of 15.6%.

Finally, folks, who says there’s no good news – Good News is everywhere.

Next Monday is Christmas, so celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, obviously the best reason to be happy.  So celebrate and make merry and Merry Christmas.  This will be my last report of this year since I am taking next week off with my family.  I’m just trying to be happy folks;just working hard at being happy.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next year folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.

6 Comments

  • Jeffrey Monheit

    The big problems causing unhappiness today is we are poorer now, much more controlled, and we lost any privacy and liberty we had. Morals, decency, common courtesy, common sense among people has largely diminished. More divorce occurs, fewer people are getting married. People are marrying later in life (if at all) and not having enough children (especially white people). More disrespect and ungodly behavior exists in how people treat one another. Abortion rates are astronomical (as if life is worth nothing), especially in the west. Women want careers now instead of men and starting families. Goods work poorly now, look ugly, are made out of cheap junk, don’t last and are made in Communist countries sold for exorbitant prices to Corporatist countries that inflate their currencies whenever it suits their interest. Worthless (digital) currency has replaced sound money. Inflation and corruption has caused people into poverty overnight. All of the important elections are rigged. Unelected bureaucrats make decisions for us without our say or consent. Corporations collude with governments and sometimes are more big and powerful than governments themselves. Their power largely goes unchecked. All legitimate institutions and levels of government are controlled not by We The People (or even the politicians themselves), are corrupt, engaged in deception and illegality. Government has too many black projects and secrecy going on we are forced to pay for in taxes and through debasement of the currency. Prices of goods (especially precious metals) are unnaturally set and nothing is done to correct the distortions except Ron Paul speaking about it, which he has no power to resolve. Our environment is manipulated, engineered, unhealthy and polluted everywhere. GMO crops replace natural, wholesome food. More theft, war, starvation, disease and violence exists now. The life expectancy in America is actually going down now. Institutions of faith are preaching meaningless garbage from the pulpit that is false and can’t do any good for anyone. IQ is dropping and there’s a deliberate campaign to make the population compliant, stupid and ignorant through fluoridation, social engineering, mind control in the schools, houses of worship and promotion of degenerate media. Christmas is a celebration not of Jesus but the rebirth of Nimrod yet no one cares and people continue to celebrate it. How could any sane and aware person not be depressed living in the modern age of decadence and meaninglessness? May the Creator save us from all this soon! If the end of the world is not now or soon then when will it be?

    • Tom Muldoon

      To an extent I agree with Mr. Monheit and Darrell Castle both. One needs to be depressed about one’s sins and the sins of our neighbors, but not so depressed that he/she refuses to call upon the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace and compassionate High Priest, for mercy.

      Dennis Prager, the sage of Salem radio and founder of Prager University, devotes one hour per week of his talk radio show to the matter of being happy. His point is that we work better when we are happy; he has written a booklet entitled, “Happiness is a Serious Problem.” If more people were happy, would they turn to drugs? Divorce their spouse? Quit their jobs? Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, told His disciples, “Be of good cheer!” And we can be cheerful, if we have hope in Christ beyond the grave.

  • Bill Bessonett

    God bless you brother you’re a great guy and I hope you do have a Merry Christmas. I will also share this that I read in a Bible Gateway devotional.

    On worry

    A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we’re doing it, I think we’re meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds’ song and the frosty sunrise.

    From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II
    Compiled in Words to Live By

  • Jeffrey Monheit

    I forgot to mention that although Darrell Castle speaks of life saving remedies from the medical world we must bear in mind these medicinal cures take the wholesome natural object and synthesize it to turn it into a pill form. The pill based on its contents often causes adverse side effects. The medical industry silences information about the natural cures for a disease, threatens and punishes doctors who choose the natural remedy to administer to patients. The reason is the medical industry is only interested in money, selling pills and procedures, keeping dependency of patients by treating their symptoms and not curing them for good. The other thought I wish to mention is the medical industry lies about the rates of cures of disease to bolster its reputation. If one survives cancer for 5 years the medical industry considers one “cured”, whereas the chemotherapy drugs and radiation weaken the body’s ability to fight causing the cancer to come back later fiercer than before. Sadly, the best cures for cancer and other diseases are still illegal in America. People wonder why there’s so much dissatisfaction in America today? The fact that 55% of people are still happy with their lives in America to me seems very optimistic, almost hard to believe. Maybe many of those 55% aren’t being all too thoughtful or truthful about their lives.

  • Aaron Gray

    Good words for today. Thanks for choosing to focus on some good things, God knows we need good news, and this is a great time of the year to reflect on these things. Merry Christmas!