We human beings are different from each other and so our beliefs. I have mine while you have yours and these beliefs of mine are the foundation of who I am. How do I view life? This is the question in my philosophy class that I need to answer. As I was thinking how to answer this, a cartoon character suddenly pop into my mind: JACK FROST. I remember a line from the movie Rise of the Guardians, Jack Frost said to the child, “I know your scared but don’t worry, were gonna have a little fun instead. That’s it! That’s my center. Fun!” I cannot forget what he said because it made me realize that each and everyone of us have our own center where we can pattern our life. At that moment I asked myself, what is my center? Then it struck me, Happiness! That is why I am touched with those lines because I can see myself. Life for me is happiness. Now that I have the answer to that question, how do I view life, my thoughts went 12 years ago.

When I was a little girl there was one event where my mother and I went to a store. In that store I saw a doll house and I said to my mother “I want to buy that doll house it will make me happy.” My mother responded “We don’t have enough money to buy that”, and I said out of innocence “let’s just get it, anyway they won’t see us.” My mother just smile and said “Material things cannot make you happy especially if you acquire it by doing bad. They can give you pleasure but it won’t last.” From then on that statement becomes the pillar of my moral character. This is what the Nichomachean Ethics is trying to teach us, “He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life.” Happiness is not easy to achieve it involves some sort of sacrifice. In my elementary years I always hate to do my assignments because I view it as an interruption to my precious playing/happy time. My mother and I would always have an argument about it. Then one day she said to me “I know that it may be much easier and more enjoyable for you to spend your time playing and watching television, but you know that you will be better off if you spend your time doing your assignments.” As I think of it now I finally understand what Aristotle is trying to imply when he said “Happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all the goods that lead to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and is more tempting, while the greater good is painful and requires some sort of sacrifice.” Yes, indeed developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, even in difficult situation. There was also a time where I question myself why I view life as happiness; it was when my closest grandfather died. I was then a freshman in high school and that time I thought that the world hates me for taking away my favorite grandfather. I spent most of my time reading novels for it is my refuge when everything around me goes wrong. That time I was reading The Zahir and one of the lines from the book caught my attention “I don’t believe in the curative powers of sufferings and tragedy, they happen because they’re part of life and should be accepted and not be seen as punishment.” That line lifted my spirit and made me think that only through acceptance will I ever find understanding. I don’t have any idea about philosophy that time and I don’t know that those lines were stoic insights. Stoicism believes that the only things we can really control are our own thoughts and beliefs. That life is a matter of acceptance. It has a therapy where the important part is to remind yourself at all times of what you can control and what you can’t. If we remind ourselves of that, and focus our energy and attention on our own beliefs and opinions, then we can learn to cope wisely with whatever the world throws at us. For now I still hold on to my view of life as happiness for it is my belief, I can control it and it’s free. As I was writing this conclusion, a realization hit me: I just did a self reflection! It helped me to better understand myself and the nature of my actions. Socrates believed that “We are unable to grow toward greater understanding of our true nature unless we take time to examine and reflect upon our life.” “Happiness depends on ourselves. It is a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.” – Aristotle