Don't Hurry, Be Happy!

Now, who was it who had that minor hit with the song on which my post's title today is based? Whoever it was, the little song he wrote (which I'm singing "note by note" in my head, of course, as I write!) was a cheerful ditty in an age which seems to have lost the vital art of being happy.

It may seem that we've every reason to be unhappy with the cares of the modern world: that was some of the thinking in my meditation on Sunday. There's a lot, on the surface, to be careworn about. And of course, it's right and proper at this time of the year particularly, to be charitable in both word and deed. But that shouldn't stop us BEING happy - it's more than a feeling, it's an attitude.

The BBC have just finished an interesting, if occasionally irritating, series which, rather than place a bunch of questionable celebrities in an actual jungle took fifty "real" people from a town which from many perspectives has often been seen as one of the worst concrete jungles in Britain, Slough. Pronounce it the American way, as in the slough of despond, and you would be in the good company of Betjeman and Brent- David of that fictional ilk from The Office (set in the Berkshire town) whose attempts at worktime bonhommie showed him for the plonker he was and in so doing made a comic creation sure to make anyone happy who's ever endured the 9 to 5 with the laughter of recognition.

Finding happiness at work today though is a hard task for many, and in many other aspects of life people seem less happy than they once were. The proviso of Making Slough Happy was to take a group of fifty volunteers and take them through a programme of various approaches to do just that with this multi-cultural melange of a community of commuters and retirees, students and workers on the massive Slough Trading Estate. The show's assortment of various social scientist and happiness specialists had a brave task on their hands to cheer the community and at the same time not send the viewers off to sleep like one of the town's most famous products, Horlicks.

Happily, and surprisingly, they did it! One of the not so surprising revelations of the show, is how therapeutic singing can be. I've inherited my dear Mum's love of a good warble, and the numerous opportunities for communal carol singing in the next three weeks are surely one of the happiest harmonies of the festive season. But why does nobody whistle these days? The show didn't bring this out, but it's an interesting example of another lost art. Disney's heirs may be singing all the way to the bank today as the world premiere of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe hits the movie screens, but another snow white heroine of decades before, popular as ever, surely had the right idea when she enjoined her workers of reduced stature to Whistle While You Work.

At which point, I guess I ought to put my tongue to my teeth and set the kettle on its stand for another day at my particular office- a long one today with an evening lecture to be served tonight. But even kettles no longer whistle! Nevertheless, the words of a far greater teacher than any psycho-babblers and academics who attempt to tell us what ought to be obvious are music to my ears. Jesus Christ knew what it was to be happy even in a life which was to end so tragically- because he knew the Lord who made us all to enjoy him forever and thus, "be happy". Except he used another word for it, and his suggestions seemed more unlikely than anything Making Slough Happy could come up with, but remain as true as ever. You'll find his suggestions for happiness in chapter 6 of Matthew's gospel: they're properly known as the Beatitudes or, if you will the Be- Attitudes. But most people call it the sermon on the mount.

In knowing him is true contentment, and how to be happy!