What exactly is happiness and how do you attain it? People as diverse as F. Dostoevsky, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Aristotle have attempted to comprehend what happiness really is. The question of happiness has been debated for centuries. Aristotle does not believe everyone can be happy because not everyone possesses the needed elements for happiness, and they do not possess the "luck" or the ability to gain these elements to make them happy. .
Happiness is attainable for everyone. Only people who possess certain things will be happy: "good birth, plenty of friends, good friends, wealth, good children, plenty of children, a happy old age, also such bodily excellences as health, beauty, strength, large stature, athletic powers, together with fame, honor, good luck, and virtue." While this list of things is critical to happiness, Aristotle adds one more thing: a complete life. He says, "One swallow does not make a spring nor does one sunny day; similarly, one day or a short time does not make a man blessed and happy." The problem of attaining happiness is obvious: not everyone can have these things. .
According to Aristotle, a slave can not ever live a happy life because he does not have a good birth. It would also be nearly impossible for a slave to gain great wealth. Only the very select few can actually be happy, for how many people actually possess all these things? Most people possess some of the things, but only the rare few have them all. So how can a person obtain any of them? There are two ways to procure these things: "luck" or to acquire them during your life.
Luck is defined as "the chance happening of fortunate or adverse events" (dictionary.com). It is apparent in such things as a good birth, a happy old age, being beautiful, or having large stature. None of these things can be acquired by any of our own attempts. No person has control over which family they are born into or how tall they are.
