Inalienable Rights

Thomas Jefferson decided John Locke's rights of man were perhaps a little too dismal sounding, that every man had the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property." Jefferson changed the last world--the pursuit of happiness sounds a lot better start for a nation than does 'mere' property. And yet, what is this pursuit? Is the pursuit of happiness just a nicer way of saying pursuit of property? Is it 'merely' the right for anyone to pursue (nearly) any vocation or means to a life? Or is there something more to it, they can not be measured materialistically, or at least be solely described by what one does to feed a family?

"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot?"

Some think we are too obsessed with staying content with our lot. There is something to be said for the best art (in whatever media) coming from some form of pain or struggle; life is not always sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows (although that is a great song). To a point, that argument is moot; every person, no matter how rich or poor, talented or average, knows ups and downs--elation and depression, pain and happiness, the good and the bad. Individuality comes into play with how we handle our failures--and equally our successes. We can dwell on the failures so that they eat us away, or we can acknowledge what went wrong and know better for the future--this is true learning. We can bask in the successes so long as to forget what got us in there in the first place, and either fall back down because we forgot how to succeed, or worse---become removed, distant and aloof so as forget what the game was in the first place.

Liberty seems easy to define, for freedom and independence comes in many forms; in movement, in love, in work, in the little decisions we make that form a day, a month, a year, a life.

Life follows a similar path. Family, friends, fiances; such forms the basis of family and friendship. Work allows us to eat and succeed, drives us in whatever vocation we choose; sustains us and allows us to live. Rules of a society also protect life so that it may be sustained.

Happiness seems the most elusive, or at least the least obvious of three 'inalienable rights' of which Jefferson wrote. You could go back to Locke, and state merely that this is speaking of the accumulation of property--being paid for our work, and what we choose to do with compensation, the right of a person to build a life of one's own. Perhaps it is more than just the mere pursuit of property; perhaps there is another happiness, that certainly includes the pursuit of property within it's definition, but certainly does not fully explain whatever that search may be.

Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot. - Pirkei Avos 4:1