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Drabble Corner

Michelle Swisz

Our Drabble for this month on the challenging theme of True Stories:

The First Half

By Craig Stroud

Closing the book, he sits, staring, enjoying. Artificial excitement drains into the night. The book gets stacked with the others. Turning off the light he stretches. A small Maltese nearby stirs, yawns. Barefoot, he winds his way on the cool plank floor to the front door, yawning. Bolted. The small Maltese watches—almost bedtime. Resting his forehead on the cool glass pane he stares longingly through the window at the dimly lit world outside. Turning, he ambles down the hall toward his sleeping wife. "Forty tomorrow," grunts the ambler to the dark. He wonders what the second half will bring.

Recently I’ve been wondering more and more whether it’s normal to be happy.

One thing I like about New Age thought is that in it, happiness is not suspect! In academia, one is allowed happiness only in the context of being in love, and then, only for a honeymoon period, which is considered disgusting, if not abdication of serious life, if it lasts for more than six months. It isn’t just that misery loves company; one truly is not taken seriously in most venues of life if one is happy, or even just sincerely wants to be happy.

Is it possible to make ourselves into people who find happiness in what we define as good? This reminds me of Plato saying that someone who wants to govern shouldn’t be allowed to. He said their willingness to govern, (which I’m taking liberties to extrapolate as their happiness at the thought of it), in itself would make them unfit for the job they seek. He seems to be saying that one must be unwilling, must not be seeking happiness or other compensation for the soul, other than the (necessarily, apparently) abstract knowledge that they’re doing the right thing, in order to be doing the right thing.

My question for our next Drabble: Is happiness okay? Is it unnatural, or base, or edified? What does it mean about us if we want to be happy; does it mean we don’t understand the nature of life? Does it mean we’re naive? Does it mean we’re unbalanced, or altogether mad, or taken over by spirit? Or is there hope for us—are we not doomed to misery in return for doing the right thing in life? Can we not be such that it would make us happy to do the right thing? Must the right thing necessarily preclude happiness? Can we not recognize and act on the categorical preclusion of happiness as wrong? These questions boiled down to a theme (wish me luck!): A happy and productive encounter (and I’m not talking about sex scenes here; not this time, anyway). Is there anywhere in life other than in bed where we can be both happy and productive? Productive and not complaining about the hours, the inbox, the boss, the nonlife?

Our theme for December: A happy and productive (but nonsexual) encounter


Here are the Drabble Guidelines once more. In summary—100 words exactly, not including the title, and send to Drabble@wvu.org by the 10th of the month preceding publication (December Drabble submissions are due by November 10.)

See you next time, and, if you dare, have a HAPPY holiday!