IT’S A REAL DRAG

TO TRULY APPRECIATE HAPPINESS, ITS OPPOSITE MUST ALSO EXIST, BUT INFORMER CAN’T HELP FEELING THE SCALES ARE UNFAIRLY WEIGHTED

The other day my daughter asked what my drag queen name would be. It’s not a question I’d ever anticipated, but she’s been following Courtney Act on

Dancing with the Stars. “Eva Or,” I replied, and the Informer household erupted with laughter because, even if I do say so myself, that is one belter of a moniker.

You should have seen us. At that moment I doubt you could have found a happier family. Then, just like that, the news came through from Christchurch and we plunged from joy to grief. Either or, right? It’s always either or.

For further proof, on Wednesday it was International Happiness Day.

Good luck with that, I thought, because recently there’s been so little to be happy about, topped by the sadness born of madness in Christchurch. More victims than Port Arthur and the worst attack since Las Vegas in 2017, we were told.

What a world we live in, where atrocities are so ubiquitous that we can compare them so readily.

Nevertheless, I’m assuming we all want to be happy, don’t we? Be warned though, it’s no easy task and I think I know why.

It’s because for happiness to exist, to be understood and truly felt, its opposite must also exist, be understood and truly felt. Am I wrong in thinking that lately things have been unfairly weighted towards the opposite?

Am I also wrong in believing that happiness itself has changed?

True happiness surely should carry no baggage. However, happiness today is increasingly laden with caveats, provisos and finger-wagging. The sentiment has shifted from “don’t worry, be happy” to “if you’re happy, be worried”.

Are we happy to live among cretins who call triple-0 when Facebook crashes? Is the happiness we felt at the big banks being punished the same as was felt by so many when George Pell was sentenced?

Just on Pell, I wonder if he’ll find God in prison, which is a cracker of a line, but should I be quite so happy about it?

I’m happy that students had the gumption to strike for action on climate change.

I’m even happier at how much it upset the wailing naysayers who apparently believe democratic rights exist only for them. I say well done, kids. Now do your homework.

I’m happy there’s to be a federal election, but I’m not happy that it will include an election campaign.

I’m happy that the music of today is not the music of my day. I’m happy that the footy’s back, but I’m full of woe at the prospects of the Swans.

I’m happy to have dropped another 3kg, but I’m not so happy that my nose now dominates my face like a lumpy double mattress.

I’m happy to believe that laughter is still the best medicine. I just wish we could laugh more often without any need for healing. And while I’m all for the pursuit of happiness, I’m not so sure about the modern politics of it.

It’s another either or situation and I’m not happy about it.

Funny old world, because ironically it turns out there are times when happiness is no laughing matter. Or as Eva Or might say, sometimes it’s a drag.

“HAPPINESS TODAY IS INCREASINGLY LADEN WITH CAVEATS, PROVISOS AND FINGER-WAGGING.”