Happiness and expectations

By Davi Briggs

We have had numerous talks during this trip about how Guatemalans rank relatively high on the happiness scale despite many of the problems the country faces. Often these talks conclude with our group agreeing that this happiness is the result of lower expectations. If you expect to have trouble feeding your family but are able to earn enough money to do so, you’ll feel happy. Comparatively, if you expect to be a millionaire but instead make minimum wage, you may not feel so great. In an effort to express these ideas further, I’ve decided to make this blog entry a poem about our drive through a rural Guatemalan community. Here it goes:

The town’s streets were crowded and tight,
the buildings were old,
colors faded by light.

The people were kind but challenged by life,
of better lives they would dream,
rather than those riddled by strife.

They worked every day to better their homes,
slaving at jobs,
feeling pain in their bones.

Despite the struggles that persist in this place,
happiness is still found,
smiles on many a face.

The joy that they feel is not a mask,
with expectations set lower,
in eudemonia they bask.