Once upon a time there was a great inventor. He was a man angry with the world. He didn’t fit in, he couldn’t talk to anyone, he had few friends. He wasn’t willing to change so he stayed in his depression. He was angry at everyone and everything. He was mad at the people, the birds chirping, the dogs barking, the cats meowing. So, he got tired of being unhappy, he kept on looking at his facebook, instagram feeds with people all happy. So he decided to pray:
“God, you’ve come to me in dreams before and given me inspiration that helped me create riches. Even though I have all these riches, I’m still unhappy. Show me a way for me to invent and create true happiness,” said the man.
In a dream, God came to him like he did all the other times before and told him to pay attention and watch how his heart feels. This will then make him eternally happy.
The inventor got to work, and worked through the night, and in the morning he believed he listened to God’s word and literally made a watch. He called it a “Happiness Watch”, and it was made in the shape of a heart.
But he needed to test it.
He put it on and it still didn’t ring and it showed that he was unhappy. So, he ran out to see his neighbour, who lived in a big beautiful house next door. The closer he got, he heard how his neighbour was yelling in a fight with his wife. His neighbor was totally unhappy, and the watch signified greater unhappiness for our inventor.
Maybe happiness is not here, maybe I need to travel to find it? He thought.
He was convinced the secret to happiness was a fast car. He got into his car which was a very fancy sports car, however, he took it for granted. Then he joined the super highway with all the traffic and all their expensive, fast cars and yet everyone was unhappy.
Maybe it’s with the people who have jobs? The secret to happiness is a good job. He stood in rush hour on a subway, and joined people rushing to work, his watch moved to the middle between happiness and unhappiness, but it showed they still weren’t happy.
Maybe it’s in a bar? That’s where people are always celebrating, dancing, and having fun. So, he went to a bar, and stood around, and saw how people were drinking their problems away, unhappy.
On the way home, he threw the watch into the garbage.
“Stupid God, you failed big time on this one,” he thought. The watch never showed true happiness. “I’ll never bother you again.”
So, he went home dejected and unhappy.
A homeless woman looking through the garbage finds the happiness watch and puts it on. The watch starts ringing, then she finds some leftover pizza in the garbage, and the watch starts showing more happiness, ringing again. She finds another piece, and shares it with her friend, and the watch shows even more happiness ringing even louder. Then she gives her crumbs to a bird, and the watch rings even louder. The bird sings a song for the woman, and the woman’s watch rings even more. Into the park the woman goes, and she walks over a bridge, and she stops to look at the fish swimming, and the watch rings again. She finds a bench, the watch rings. She watches a sunset, the watch rings the last time for that day.
It’s a new day, she wakes up, glad that she has another day to live and the watch rings again. While seated on the bench, she pulls an old tarnished locket from around her neck. It seems like it is the woman’s only “valuable” possession. She unlocks the heart shaped locket. The camera is focusing on her face. Her eyes start to water, a small tear slowly starts in the corner of her eye. She smiles a very happy smile. Her face glows, she puts her hand on her heart and then the watch rings.
She gets up and there’s a garbage basket bin by her bench. She then throws away the watch.
“It’s disturbing my peace and happiness,” she says, and she walks into the sunrise.