“The Pursuit of Happyness” is the title of an American film starring actor Will Smith. This film is based on the fascinating true story of Chris Gardner, and tells us the difficulties of a man who struggles to overcome the obstacles to give his child a better life.Striking the name of this movie, because it coincides with part of the Bill of Rights of the Good People of Virginia, June 12, 1776, which preceded one of the most sublimes writings of history, the Declaration of Independence of the United States. The text provides in its first article: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity, namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”Similarly, the pursuit of happiness is part of the United States Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 (Thomas Jefferson): “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
”Many thinkers give irrefutable that Jefferson took the idea of the text of the English philosopher, John Locke, except that Locke used the phrase “life, liberty and property” as the main natural rights. However, by replacing part of the “property” by the “pursuit of happiness”, Vernon Louis Parrington, historian and American professor, Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928, explains that Jefferson was influenced by the French vision of a humanitarian democracy which calls for a Constitution designed to safe. . to a useless and senseless competition, believing that money or sensual pleasures pave the way towards the satisfaction and self-fulfillment. Ironically, we are already happy, likely to be equally happy in the future and even to feel quite satisfied with life in later years. What happens is that our human nature leads us to an egocentric quest for an unattainable “heaven on earth” and so we lose the opportunity to make a journey of heroes, which would lead to a more meaningful life.
Remain locked in a downward spiral, leaving us more abstracted, less happy, less satisfied and, eventually, end up dying less done.As noted, happiness is established in international instruments, of which the country is a signatory and are part of our public law. The state is responsible for ensuring the welfare state that allows American reach the degree of happiness which all desire.
