Happiness

Happiness

Humanities

Unit 7

Kaplan University

Christina Olson

What is happiness? How did you come to this conclusion of happiness? Is happiness ever attainable? Do you think you view on happiness will ever change? These are the main questions that I asked Kaleb North and Justice Nwuqwie.

Kaleb North, formally known as Lester Hernandez, is a 24 year old male that I met while in Iraq. He is a native of Honduras, and moved to Minnesota when he was 6 years old. When he was 11 his step father passed away from a then on he went to live his mother. Kaleb’s mother was not the loving mother that many young boys had. She had beaten him constantly, only him and not his younger brothers. When Kaleb was 12 he was taken away from his mother’s homes and placed in state custody. Soon after, he was fostered by one of his step father’s friend Brian North. After joining the military when he was 21, he gained US Citizenship and changed his name to Kaleb North.

I wanted to explain Kaleb’s past to help you understand why his view on happiness blew me away. When asked the first question on what his definition of happiness is, his response was; “Happiness is like a trash bag filled with air, it is empty and non-existence(K. North, personal communication, March 17, 2011.)” With this response my jaw fell to my chin and remained there for many seconds. I gained my thoughts and then asked Kaleb what had made him feel that happiness was non-existent. He said that happiness is something that he has never experienced; “it is a word that someone made up and has no meaning (K. North, personal communication, March 17, 2011.).” I asked him if he felt happy when he was living with his family, or when he received his Citizenship. Kaleb simply answered with a no. Since “No” is never enough for me, I asked why. He replied by telling me that he was joyful because it is something that no one can take away, and has no opposite. Lastly I asked Kaleb if he thinks...