Happiness (11, 12)
     
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Happiness

Happiness (1, 2, 3)

Happiness (4)

Happiness (5, 6)

Happiness (7, 8)

Happiness (9, 10)

Happiness (11, 12)

Happiness (13)

Happiness (14, 15)

Happiness (16)

Happiness (17)

Happiness (18, 19)

Happiness (20)

Happiness (21)

Epilogue

Sharing Happiness

LIFE

 
11. DO NOT HARM A PERSON OF GOOD WILL

     Despite the insistence of evil men that all men are evil, there are many good men around; and women too.  You may have been fortunate enough to know some.

     Factually, the society runs on men and women of good will.  Public workers, opinion leaders, those in the private sector who do their jobs are, in the great majority, people of good will.  If they weren't, they long since would have ceased to serve.

     Such people are easy to attack; their very decency prevents them from overprotecting themselves.  Yet, the survival of most of the individuals in a society depends upon them.

     The violent criminal, the propagandist and the sensation-seeking media, all tend to distract one’s attention from the solid, everyday fact that the society would not run at all were it not for the individuals of good will.  As they guard the street, counsel the children, take the temperatures, put out the fires and speak good sense in quiet voices, one is apt to overlook the fact that people of good will are the ones that keep the world going and Man alive upon this Earth.

     Yet, such can be attacked and strong measures should be advocated and taken, to defend them and keep them from harm, for your own survival and that of your family and friends, depends upon them.

~~~ The way to happiness is far more easily followed, when one supports people of good will. ~~~

 

     -will: bearing or attitude toward others; disposition.  Traditionally, "men of good will" means those who mean well toward their fellows and work to help them.

12. DO NOT STEAL

     When one does not respect the ownership of things, his own possessions and property are at risk.  A person who, for one reason or another, has been unable to honestly accumulate  possessions, can pretend that nobody owns anything anyway.  But don't try to steal his shoes!  A thief sows the environment with mysteries; what happened to this?, what happened to that?, etc.  A thief causes trouble far in excess of the value of things stolen.

     Faced with the advertising of desirable goods, torn by the incapability of doing anything valuable enough to acquire possessions or simply driven by impulse, those who steal imagine they are acquiring something valuable at low cost.  But that is the difficulty; the cost.  The actual price to the thief is high beyond belief.  The greatest robbers in history paid for their loot by spending their lives in wretched hide-outs and prisons with only rare moments of "the good life".  No amount of stolen valuables would reward such a horrible fate.

     Stolen goods greatly reduce in value.  They have to be hidden and they are always a threat to liberty itself.  Even in communist states, a thief is sent to prison.  Stealing things is really just an admission that one is not capable enough to make it honestly; or that one has a streak of insanity.  Ask a thief which one it is; it's either one or the other.

~~~ The road to happiness cannot be traveled with stolen goods. ~~~

    

     -safeguard: prevent from being harmed; protect.

     -morale: the mental and emotional attitude of an individual or a group; sense of well-being; willingness to get on with it; a sense of common purpose.

     -vandalism: the willful and malicious destruction of public or private property, especially anything beautiful or artistic.