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What Is Needed for Happiness?

What Is Needed for Happiness?
What Is Needed for Happiness?

He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…

I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor—such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps—what more can the heart of a man desire?

Salah satu bagian dari novel “Family Happiness” karya Leo Tolstoy yang menarik perhatian Alexander Supertramp dan sempat ia tandai. Dalam filmnya ia membaca novel ini saat berada di dalam magic bus.

Alexander Supertramp adalah nama alias dari Christopher Johnson McCandless yang di era 90-an melakukan perjalanan ke berbagai negara bagian di Amerika Serikat. Tragisnya ia menemui ajal sesaat sebelum mencapai tujuan akhirnya: Alaska. Kisah hidupnya diangkat ke dalam buku berjudul “Into The Wild” karya Jon Krakauer yang kemudian difilmkan juga dengan nama yang sama.

Foto cover dari Unsplash oleh Nitin Garg.