“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering” 

 – Friedrich Nietzsche

A child just died of hunger. Another has just died of dehydration. One in four mammals are threatened with extinction. 70 million people are enslaved right now. My parents are divorced. My best friend of 7 years just betrayed me. I’m failing school. 

Yeah, the world sucks. 

So how do you survive in such a horrible world? Why are people so mean? Does humanity still exist? How do I keep smiling everyday? That’s the thing, you just do. 

In this world, life is never perfect. You have your ups and downs, days where you want to socialize and days where you want to hide behind the covers in your room forever. And that’s okay. As a child, life was perfect; when watching Christmas movies in the classroom was fun, when grandma was still alive, when school was never stressful, and when candies and sweets were the highlight of your day. However, as you grow older, you experience different things, meet new people, and learn about what’s going on in the world. That’s when life began to suck. But, how do you combat this? Yeah, we are technically insignificant people who can’t stop extinction or save the deprived children, but we can continue humanity by just being ourselves. And sometimes just noticing the little things in life that make you smile, can bring a little happiness to this world. 

Godfrey Daniels was a regular person just on his way home from a concert when he received a miniature magazine. “So as I was walking home, I was kind of flipping through it [a magazine] and on about the third or fourth page, there were a couple of letters to the editor and one of them mentioned that there was a phone booth in the Mojave desert, miles and miles from any pavement, just sitting by itself.” And although it was just a few words, Daniels went home and dialed the number. The phone rang for a long time, but Daniels never gave up. “I just kind of became obsessed.” Eventually after dialing for days, someone had picked up. Despite it being just a regular voice, Daniels found no disappointment but joy. The abandoned booth sitting in the middle of nowhere was his happiness in this world. And that is another step towards humanity. 

But what if what you love is weird? Who cares! Blair Somerville is a New Zealand artist that was featured in “Lost and Found,” a video expressing his curiosity and artistic inventions. In a remote corner of New Zealand, he collects trashed or unwanted items and uses these recycled materials to create something new. “You just need some shelter, some food, and kind of a reason to be alive.” And that reason is the little things in life that make you happy. So, it doesn’t matter what it is that makes you smile, it’s how it makes you smile.

And sometimes, it is important to do whatever it takes to make you happy. You can find an example of this in the short film, Scavengers. The video depicts two astronauts going through a series of unusual and complicated events, as they manipulate the world around them to fit their needs. And although some things they made do seem strange, they were able to reach their goal: achieving a glimpse of the world at home.

So why is it important to be happy? Because it’s what makes you survive through this horrible world. Whether it’s from smiling at a random phone booth or finding joy in making trinkets from trash, being happy is what comes out from all of it. And making it one of your goals in life to become happy is equally important as well. Yes, we can’t completely eradicate evil from the world, but we can slowly change the world through the little things we do. Smile for those who can’t. Live for those who can’t.