The Performance of Happiness

Chester Bennington. One day, this immortal vocalist of Linkin Park entered his bedroom, wound a rope around his neck, and suddenly hung himself from the ceiling fan. In an instant, the beloved voice of millions fell forever silent.

Marilyn Monroe, whom countless people would die just to glimpse once, on one melancholy beautiful night took an overdose of pills and fell asleep forever. Behind her she left millions of dollars in wealth and billions of tear-soaked eyes.

Evelyn McHale. She was to be married to her lover the following month. With a gentle smile, she climbed to the 86th floor and leaped down with a thud, her death dubbed "the most beautiful suicide in the world."

Each of these three was supremely successful in their respective fields. One at the pinnacle of fame, another unmatched in beauty, yet another fulfilled in winning the person she loved. Still, somewhere in the golden crown lay an alloy. Like a pearl hidden within an oyster's shell, everyone's sorrow lurks somewhere unseen.

What is life's most precious treasure to one person is merely worthless ash, broken refuse to another. What is deeply desired by one is a source of extreme irritation to another.

Someone commits suicide unable to bear the pangs of hunger in dire poverty, while another walks the path of self-destruction, casting aside millions upon millions of dollars in wealth. Where one's happiness lies, what gives meaning to one's life, where one's pain remains hidden—none of us can truly fathom.

Such is life. Life's meaning differs for each person. Success too means different things to different people.

The person you consider successful may have an entirely different definition of success. The person you think supremely happy may find their happiness lies elsewhere, on the flip side of the coin.

Success to you might mean walking on paved roads wearing expensive shoes, while to someone in expensive shoes, success might mean walking barefoot on grass. And to someone paralyzed in both legs, success has only one meaning: to stand even once, however gently, supported by their own broken legs.

Most people in this world are unhappy, because humans must perform the charade of being happy according to others' definitions. They must... to avoid complications, to keep loved ones smiling. Performing this act over time, people grow weary and decide to flee. Then we see that those who cry the most at their departure are the very ones to please whom they had grown gradually exhausted and lifeless. Ah, what irony of life! What a farce!