Happiness rooted in simplicity

I cannot help you understand Wall Street; combustion engines; electricity; aerodynamics; architecture; television signals; operating backhoes; fracturing for oil; tax deductions; great art; open-heart surgery; washing machines, computers and digital cameras; genetic-engineered crops; crooked cops; relativity; why traffic signals cost so much; violent criminals; making jokes about speech impediments; hating gays and immigrants; acting arrogant about inherited abilities and looks; the sound barrier; weather dynamics; thinking that acting cool is cool; measuring success by possessions; thinking that the universe revolves around Earth; condemning those with the courage to be intellectually honest.

I can help you understand the joy of making a sliding, game-winning catch in centerfield on a church coed softball team; being left wide open because no one fears you and swishing a three-pointer to win a pick-up basketball game; sinking a putt from 40 feet off the green; upsetting better players in tennis through sheer hustle; taking vacation to support a friend contemplating suicide and leaving with them not ready to give up; giving others the benefit of the doubt; driving through winding mountain roads framed by snow-covered valleys; camping in scented piney woods and being awakened by sunrise and sizzling breakfasts; walking barefoot on the warm, shallow quicksand of an early-morning beach — serenaded by seagulls and children competing for overnight treasures — then impulsively running into the water and returning on a powerful wave that makes you smile and your friends want to try it.

Contact Wendel Sloan at [email protected].