I was reading this post by another quad over at From the End of a Mouthstick which talks about some of the issues I've dealt with myself, and talks about how people have different perspectives about what would make them happy. The "if I only had" syndrome is what I sometimes call it.
The writer talks about how in rehab quads were saying if they had use of their hands they would be happy and paras were saying if they had use of their legs they could be independent and the medical staff were saying if they had a new car they would be happy. Of course, Einstein was the one to pipe up with "It's all relative" and the wise guy in the room will be sure to ask "To what?"
Personally, I've found that , as we say in the spinal cord community, our level of disability has little to do with happiness. I know many quads who are happier than paras and many paras who are happier than able bodied people and many quads who are happier than able bodied people - well, you get the idea.
The same is true about money or material things. As I watch our economy get tighter, I know there's more to this topic than just philosophizing about the relativity of situations. There are people ( we all know them) who talk about getting this or that and as soon as they have the latest and greatest model are looking to get something else. This makes them pretty unhappy, although they could already win the prize for having the most toys when they die.
I just don't think that circumstances necessarily define happiness. An inner sense of values and an ability to be resilient really do play a part. Here's a video I found on a link to on a friend's blog today that kind of puts things in perspective.
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