What's So Great About Being Happy?

Total strangers who share my life for mere minutes in my consignment shop tell me their personal problems, completely unsolicited, and it's no damn picnic. And though the saying goes, "the customer is always right," I do start to wonder if anyone is happy, ever--after all, these are the people out shopping! (God knows what's up with the people filling all the hospitals or confined to our prisons or sleeping on the streets, going hungry or dying in a hospice.) And yet they are still miserable, complaining to anyone who will listen even as they pick out a new dining room table or a pair of silver candlesticks.

Humans are capable of an entire range or emotions, yet the most popular one by far is represented by that yellow Smiley Face; anything less than :) or :D and you are considered unstable, weird, a bummer or downright nuts. What's so great about being happy? Is it so terrible to be unhappy? Is being in a bad mood such a crime? Do we all have to smile all the time and say "cheese" for pictures? Who says a frown (such a funny word) is not photogenic?

I suspect the suicide rate would plummet if all those angry and depressed people didn't think their feelings were unwarranted. Let's raise a glass to unhappiness....another way to live.