I’d like to share with you a story which connects our year-long theme of reflecting on eliminating violence in our own lives with this month’s theme of what brings genuine happiness.

     An American businessman was at the pier of a small, coastal Mexican village when a tiny boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.”
      The businessman asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
     The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”
     The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you would run your expanding enterprise.”
     The fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”
     “15-20 years,” was the reply.
     “But what then, senor?”
     The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”
     “Millions, senor?”  Then what?”
     Triumphantly, the businessman replied, “Then you would retire! You’d move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandkids, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings, where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

                           —Author Unknown

During April we will help the students to see that happiness is an inside quality. No amount of outside things or people can “make” us happy. It comes from inside of ourselves.
     Very often we can feel much more happiness from helping someone else than we can from getting something else. The happiness we feel from doing something kind for someone else lasts much longer than the happiness we get from acquiring some new things.
     A child who gets a new baseball glove is pleased with the gift, but is thrilled when the child’s parent goes out and actually plays catch with him/her.
     As spring brings us longer and warmer days, set aside some time to take a walk with your family, or play a game with your children, or read a book together.
      Forget about work for an hour and pay attention to the people who matter in your life. In the end, if you lose everything else, but still have each other, that’s all that really matters. If you want to be happy, practice “heart management” more than time management, or business management or budget management.  This type of happiness could do a lot to diminish the stress within you and within your home.

—Sr. Diana