Darrin M. Mcmahon’s Argument of True Happiness

There are many arguments and theses about what creates true happiness, but Darrin M. McMahon’s argument is a truly convincing one. McMahon has swayed and created some people’s own opinions on what to believe. Most are true of what McMahon is saying about how happiness can only solely be achieved when happiness is not being forced upon anyone and by not focusing on your own happiness instead let happiness come to yourself naturally.

Some people believe McMahon’s argument applies to most people, which is true when focusing on your own happiness that won’t result in obtaining true happiness. People are basically decreasing their own chances of happiness with this method of thinking. Some people do believe that fame, money, and power create happiness, and for the most part, are true. Fame, money, and power can be used as tools to obtain pleasure and joy. These powers can be what true happiness is to a person and that is fine, however, people can still obtain true happiness without these tools at their disposal, but what true happiness is to a person depends on the person's preferences and joys in life.

A life where somebody is forcing themselves to achieve true happiness is not actually happy those people are manipulating themselves to believe what happiness is. Some say people who believe this way have a miserable and depressing life if a person’s life is based around this ideology people say that’s not living life the “right” way. Some say a life based around materialism is miserable, but that is wrong, some people still find their own true happiness in the materialistic way which all depends on what is happiness to a person. Some people say life in which a person helps others and lives their life naturally and with what themselves enjoy results in contentment which is true happiness, but what’s really important in finding true happiness overall is finding what stimulates pleasure and contentment. “Whatever floats your boat” people should keep on pursuing their own way of obtaining happiness. According to Darrin M. McMahon in the Pursuit Of Unhappiness Op-Ed quote by John Stuart Mill “Those only are happy,' he came to believe, 'who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way”.

Instead of manipulating one's happiness people should obtain happiness naturally and retain happiness by living life and letting happiness come naturally. By not forcing and focusing on your personal happiness, true happiness will come with the aid of living one's lifestyle and being someone that feels pleasure from their actions and enjoys what themselves, find delight in. The most vital principle of happiness is happiness can’t be forced upon and shouldn’t be sought after directly if indeed someone is focusing on obtaining the happiness that will not work happiness must come naturally in order to work.

There are many actions people can do to find true happiness but must be what their selves enjoy. For instance, some people believe money can bring true happiness. According to Richard A. Easterlin in Does money buy happiness? “For many Americans, the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of money come to much the same thing. More money means more goods (inflation aside) and thus more of the material benefits of life. As it is for the individual, so it is for society as a whole. National economic growth-a steady upward march in average income, year after year, decade after decade-means, it is supposed, greater well-being and a happier society” ( “Does money buy happiness?” ). Many people believe in different ideas and of what works for them, but all should fall under the idea of happiness cannot be forced or focused on people should naturally live their lives and do actions that pleasure themselves and that could be anything. Darrin M. McMahon focuses on this idea heavily in his Op-Ed most of McMahon’s argument is happiness cannot be forced upon someone or cannot be forced by someone.

McMahon then says most people with true happiness do not focus on their happiness those people do actions that pleasure themselves and that turn into true happiness naturally, which is a more efficient and healthier way to achieve true happiness and which creates peace and mind. According to Darrin M. McMahon in The Pursuit Of Unhappiness “So in these last days of 2005 I say to you, 'Don't have a happy new year!' Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends. If you're so inclined, put in some good hours at the office or at your favorite charity, temple, or church. Work on your jump shot or your child's model trains. With luck, you'll find happiness by the by. If not, your time won't be wasted. You may even bring a little joy to the world”. McMahon at the end of the Op-Ed is asking people to spend more time with their family and do actions that make them happy. With this strategy, McMahon says true happiness will come naturally. However, If people are deliberately trying to achieve happiness without living their lives with what themselves enjoy nothing good will come out of that.

A good analogy is when people say to get a career in which you love and enjoys doing and finds pleasure in and satisfaction from your career. Just use that saying and implement that into your life. That is the broad idea of the argument people should do what they love to do and with this ideology, people would now have won this so-called game called life.

Anybody can truly achieve this type of happiness. Just by finding and doing anything a person finds joy in, the person will receive true happiness. There are many arguments and theories about what creates true happiness but some people believe life circumstances come into play with somebody’s overall happiness. According to Richard A. Easterlin in Explain happiness “Economists recognize that happiness depends on a variety of circumstances besides material conditions, but most have long assumed that if income increases substantially, then overall well-being will move in the same direction”. There are people in the world who are born wealthy, those people have an advantage if wealthier people use their wealth to their advantage. If wealthy people use their money the “right” way. Those people have the best start on creating true happiness in their own life. Since wealthy people have more materials, to obtain true happiness by doing what makes them feel joy and that could be anything, but people without wealth don’t have to be discouraged those people still have a chance of obtaining true happiness, but wealthy people just have a higher chance of obtaining true happiness. Since wealthy people have more options to pick from on what to find joy and pleasure in. Wealthy people have the finances to do anything their heart desires which heightens their chance of finding happiness since wealthy people have more outlets on where to find happiness.

When people do achieve true happiness that increases the well-being of themselves and society as a whole. According to Ruut Veenhoven “It is concluded that society is more likely to flourish with happier citizens than with unhappy ones”. True happiness among many people will have extraordinary growth with economic success and prosperity in a community. There are many benefits of what comes with obtaining true happiness, however, people have to obtain happiness first so, from the words of Darrin M. McMahon, happiness can't be forced, happiness can only come naturally through living your life on what yourself, enjoys and finds joy in.

If a person is going out of their way of wanting happiness that won’t work. People who are faking their own way of thinking about what to believe are manipulating themselves. Some people believe that strategy works, but in reality, true happiness will not come. From the ideology of Darrin M. McMahon, the best way to achieve true happiness in all reality is to do the actions that you enjoy and find joy in so just keep on doing them in your life, and eventually, if people use this way of thinking people will have true happiness, however, true happiness cannot be forced upon yourself or forcing happiness your own self.

The best way is a natural way so ask yourself ” what creates true happiness?” people must answer the question themselves by finding what brings joy and pleasure to them and let that define the kind of people are a person who lived or a person who’s just part of the system doing what everyone else does not live their life to the fullest. Remember human beings only have one life to live so why make your life miserable one do the actions that make yourself happy to achieve true happiness. Point-blank and simple people should just do what makes them happy.

Work Cited

1. Darrin. “In Pursuit of Unhappiness.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Dec. 2005, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/29/opinion/in-pursuit-of-unhappiness.html.
2. Easterlin, Richard A. “Does Money Buy Happiness?” ProQuest, 2001, https://search.proquest.com/openview/6ce2d5a919778d8fada2059d39b7ff89/1?cbl=1817076&pq-origsite=gscholar
3. Easterlin, Richard A. “Explaining Happiness.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 16 Sept. 2003, https://www.pnas.org/content/100/19/11176.
4. Veenhoven, Ruut. “The Utility of Happiness.” SpringerLink, Kluwer Academic Publishers, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00302332.
5. Peer editors: Alejandro Ramirez, Adian Cervantes