The secret of happiness...

[fajrdrako]

The secret of happiness is freedom; the secret of freedom, courage. - Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War)

Comments

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Compared to the ancient Greeks, are we all cowards? I hope not.

It saddens me that there seems to be a lot of timidity going on these days ... from recent statements calling on mothers to forbid their children from digging snow tunnels to the War on Terror and Drugs in North America generally. If there is courage, it seems to be woefully misplaced -- how else to describe the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Compared to the ancient Greeks, are we all cowards? I hope not.

Depends on who you look at. Looking around the world today, I don't see many people like Leonidas of Sparta. Do they exist?

It saddens me that there seems to be a lot of timidity going on these days ...

Yes, me too. As if "safety" is the only real value. Risk-taking is discouraged... but also glorified in movies like "Die Hard" and the James Bond movies.

Maybe it's another of those things that is cyclical.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Happiness IS freedom, or so I discover the older I get and the more I begin to pull away from certain family members. I find that I really like who I am and what I believe and am more and more intolerant of people that don't at least accept that, or even better - allow me to be open about it. Why waste my time when there are so many wonderful friends who welcome me with open arms?

Sorry, read your quote at an emotional moment, LOL.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely, happiness and freedom can't exist without each other - though there's also a certain freedom in being able to choose the ways in which we are unfree. And we choose that with every choice we make.

Why waste my time when there are so many wonderful friends who welcome me with open arms?

I could hug you for saying that. I'm going through a bad time right now with a friend who has dumped me for no reason - or at least, no reason that I can see. So it makes all my friends who treat me well seem all the more incredibly precious.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

*hug* I guess we both need one tonight. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely!