HAPPINESS IS ELUSIVE

I remember vividly that time when two new families moved into our neighborhood at Ayala Alabang Village. Our next door neighbor must be very rich. They have several vehicles, two drivers and four maids. The Padre de Familia was a Cesar Montano look-alike, his two sons were both very handsome, just like the That's Entertainment guys. They were all very kind, very accommodating and seemingly very happy. But my wife and I wondered were the wife was until we heard from our driver that the couple were separated. Hearing things like that made me sad. Why did they not stick to each other long enough?

Across the street two houses away from ours were a young couple with a young boy of about four years old. The wife was obviously pregnant. As noted by one of my daughters, the young couple must be very lucky to own a beautiful house at their young age. They must be earning so much.

One day I saw them quarreling in front of their house. The woman must be very mad as she was shouting unprintable invectives. By any description, she was scandalous and remained that way for about an hour. When her husband kept quiet she turned her fury to her son. Mothers like her made me mad.

Happiness was always elusive. Externally Ayala Alabang Village was a picture of Peace, Calm, Affluence and Glory. To the outside it must be an enviable place to live. I myself was deceived that way until I lived inside with my family. I started meeting lonely and troubled people in their pathetic efforts to find happiness.

Happiness, I realized, was not a place or a thing that money could buy. It was a state of the mind. It lived in the heart, nurtured by love and illumined by the soul.