Masked

One Street: Market Square, Shipley #31

Yesterday, the delightful and very talented dis...dat...d'udda alerted me to the fact that tomorrow is the first United Nations International Day of Happiness. She suggests on this forum post that we could perhaps try to create more happiness in the world (at least blipworld!?) with some happy images. I never start the day with any kind of brief for a blip but I'm going to try tomorrow. Will you join me? The idea is that we each tag our images "happyday 2013" so we can collect them all together. Let's see just how much happiness we can create!

Now, I'm aware that this is quite objectionable to some of you out there. The very notion of enforced good cheer and jolliness is anathema to many, me included to a degree. When I'm not in a happy mood there is perhaps nothing worse than being told to "cheer up". Our lives are all tragic comedies at heart and sadness can sometimes be the most appropriate response. It's actually alright to be sad and grumpy, so long as it doesn't become a habit of mind.

So I've been trying to put a lid on my happiness today so that it's all ready to burst out tomorrow. I'm planning to go out on Market Square at lunchtime and unleash my smile on unsuspecting shoppers and spread my surplus good cheer about. I've no idea how that's going to work exactly but I'm sure I'll get a happy blip of some kind as a result

For today, though, we have a counterpoint to that. This guy was in character raising money for the homeless. I didn't even try to ask him his name as all communication was through gesture but he was happy enough for me to take his picture. I suspect he did very well. He was very good. It's a reminder of the masks we all wear. Are those people who are miserable on the outside actually quite happy on the inside? I think it can most definitely be the case that those people who are happy on the outside can actually be quite miserable on the inside. I just wanted to recognise the full complexity of the human condition before breaking out into unalloyed happiness tomorrow!