Heidi and Happiness

Heidi looks for happiness and finds it in an unusual location.

When Heidi decided to become happy, she was not exactly sure how to make that come about. She had often immersed herself in the dregs of misery, and she was acutely aware of the consequences, which were not good at all. Most of the time she felt depressed and hopeless, as did, she noticed, most of her friends.

Could her friends be the problem? Could the fact that she surrounded herself with morose individuals be contributing to her own sadness? She decided to do some research.

Her computer these days seemed to be her best friend. At least, her computer, whom she had named Cecil, seemed to be always there for her, waiting for her touch, anticipating her questions that he/it hoped to answer. On this particular night, a Monday in October when the leaves were turning from green to red and orange and brown, Heidi decided to ask Cecil the Computer a burning question.

She was smart enough to avoid his name, for fear that someone named Cecil in a faraway country might answer her and propose marriage on the spot. No, she was too smart for that sort of scam or spam or whatever people called it these days.

Instead she typed this question: "How can I be happy?" Within nanoseconds she saw answer upon answer, though it seemed at first glance that most of the people or sites or robots that responded were interested in selling her something. "Only $200 a year for our Happiness App!" "Want to be happy? Subscribe to Happiness Magazine!"

Somehow, none of the ads made Heidi feel happier or optimistic or anything other than depressed. What to do?

She decided to abandon Cecil the Computer and hopped into her little car. Her car's name was Hugo. It dawned on her that she had a habit of giving her possessions masculine names. Well, why not? Maybe she could call her toaster Teresa or her cell phone Cecilia, just for variety.

She drove aimlessly through her hometown of Ashleyville, Ohio. What could bring her happiness? Maybe moving to the big city? No, she had tried that and found it to be a lonely, even though a busy place. Heidi continued to drive without a plan, without a map, and without any hope of suddenly becoming happy. Then she saw a sign that said Free Meals Tonight in front of a rather unimpressive building. What did she expect--a castle or a mansion offering free meals? Not too likely.

The parking lot was only half full. Well, she thought, why would I expect the parking lot to be full? If people needed free meals, were they going to hop in their cars and head for the soup kitchen? They would probably walk from somewhere close by. Heidi was starting to feel more depressed. This could not be the key to happiness, to walk into a building offering free food for poor and/or homeless people. But something was drawing her. Either that, or she had no other pressing engagements at the moment.

Heidi opened the heavy door at the front of the building. A woman at a table smiled and said, "Good evening. Are you here for the dinner?"

"No. Not exactly. I'm not hungry. I guess I was wondering if I could help."

Now where had that come from? Where had any of this come from? Why was she here? Heidi had no idea.

"Oh, sure. Just go back to the kitchen and look for Jeff. He's in charge tonight. I'm sure he'll give you something to do."

For a moment Heidi considered turning around, walking out the door, and finding happiness in another place, but then she decided to stay. Why, she was not exactly sure. She walked to the kitchen.

It took a minute or two to find Jeff. She even had to poke him to get his attention.

"Huh? Hi? Do you need help?"

"Well, I was hoping that I could give you some help. I was driving by and saw the sign. Is there something I can do?"

Jeff gave her a big smile. "Sure. There's always something to do here. You could wash dishes, you could wipe the tables, or you could just talk to people."

"Talk to people?"

"Yes. It's not that hard. Most of these people are lonely. Some of them have interesting stories to tell. Correction: they all have interesting stories to tell. Each of us has lived an interesting life. It's just a matter of looking and asking and then listening."

"Oh. Well, I guess I could try talking to people." She looked around with a worried look on her face.

"Don't be scared. There's a police officer at the door over there. If you have any problems, just give a yell. But I don't think you'll have any difficulties."

"OK, I'll give it a try."

Heidi wandered over to a table where an old man was sitting by himself.

"Hi, there. I'm Heidi. Mind if I sit down?"

"No, I don't mind. Where's your food?"

"Oh, I'm not hungry."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm not sure. I saw the sign and stopped. Then I asked if I could help out, and the guy in charge suggested that I talk to people."

"Well, at least you're being honest. The last woman who came to talk to me made up some story about God directing her directly to me. Didn't believe it for a moment."

"Well, something directed me to this place and over to you. Maybe Chance. Maybe God. I don't really know. My name is Heidi. I started driving around town because I was tired of being unhappy. I'm looking for happiness."

"Not sure there's much happiness here. Why are you unhappy, young lady? My name, by the way, is Timothy. I don't much like being called Tim."

"Well, Timothy, most of my friends seem to be unhappy."

"You need new friends."

"Maybe so. It just dawned on me today that I needed to somehow find happiness."

"I know how you can do it."

"Really? How?"

"You stop thinking so much about yourself. That's the first thing you do. Then you start thinking about serving others. That's the next thing. When you think about others first, you'll be much happier than you are now."

"How do you know that, Timothy?"

"Oh, I know a thing or two. Now I suggest you wander around the room and talk to other folks who are here because they're poor. Find out who they are and where they've been. You'll be surprised at what you can find out by just asking the right questions and by being really interested in people. Don't pretend to be interested. You have to be really interested."

"I'll try it. Thank you, Timothy. How do you know all this, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm the resident psychologist here. Or perhaps an angel who's hungry."

By Anita G. Gorman

From: United States

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