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My pursuit of happiness

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I'm a lawyer a Nigerian lawyer so I'm sure it won't come to you as a surprise if I tell you that I love constitutional law. Constitutional law remains one of my best course in the university while studying to be a lawyer but it comes after criminal law.

The first time I came across the American declaration of independence was during a constitution law lecture. I fell in love with it but then what is there not worth falling in love with in that declaration. Is it the equality of man or the unalienable rights?

What I love most about that declaration however is the part about the pursuit of happiness. Everybody wants to be happy I don't think there is any sane person who will prefer pain and suffering over happiness but then let me not be a judge on this everyone is endowed with his or her own whims and caprice I don't think l should use mine to judge others. Personally I know happiness comes above pain and suffering.

For a long time I walked around with that part of the declaration in me determined to use it in my life, when the movie the pursuit of happiness staring Will Smith came out I rushed to watch it I understand the movie is based on the bestselling memoir by Chris Gadner but I have not been able to lay hands on a copy in Nigeria to read.
When I decided to apply the pursuit of happiness in my life I found it almost impossible.

In Nigeria happiness is not something that comes easy, it comes with a heavy price tag and sometimes even those who can afford to buy it still find it impossible to purchase.

Where will I find happiness when my Country is buried so deep in corruption that digging it out seems impossible it is so terrible it is like only a miracle can do that. Am I supposed to laugh stupidly when I see government officials openly display the public treasury they loot building mansions and buying cars they don't even need?

How can I find happiness when I see people dying of poverty in the midst of plenty? In a Country blessed with human and natural resources including the black gold some still go to bed on empty stomach, if you can picture or imagine a fish drowning to dead in water then you can understand the plight of many Nigerians.

Is it in the midst of tribal and religious conflict and killings that I will see happiness?

Or is it the bad roads where accidents meet regularly to take lives, the terrible health care that only the rich can escape from by getting treatment in America or other developed Countries, the absence offers stable power supply or the fallen standard of education?

I can go on to list more problems but let's leave it at that for now. All these problems make happiness seem lost and until we fix them I don't think I will find happiness.

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Written by danjuma
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