当幸福来敲门 The Pursuit of Happyness · 主播李楠 NO.68

本期主播：李楠-香港理工大学博士在读
本期文章：The Pursuit of Happyness 当幸福来敲门
录制地点：香港

在上一期的节目里，我们的主播永清为你读了一篇文章The Paradox of Happiness《幸福的悖论》。What is the definition of "happiness"? “幸福”是什么？他这样读到： Happiness is a perception of each individual. It`s not a matter of bargaining, it`s not an issue of money or fame—instead, happiness is what you resolve to accept. If we live through optimistic hope; if we dare to dream; if we empower ourselves to fully live; then we have regained our sense of happiness.

其中一段关于幸福的讨论发生在Chris给儿子寻找托儿所的过程中：
The day care center in San Francisco at $400 a month is out of the question. With rent at least $600 that would take up what I’m earning after taxes, leaving nothing for food, transportation, and diapers. At a pay phone I call a few friends to see if they’ve got any inside scoop on day care facilities in the ease bay. One of the places looks wonderful. It too turns out to be over my budget; besides, they don’t accept kids who aren’t potty-trained.

“Okay, Christopher,” I tell him as we start to leave, “we’ll work on that okay, baby?” As I’m looking around, hoping that it won’t be too long until I can afford having him here, I notice that the day care management has a sign on the wall declaring the center to be a place of “HAPPYNESS”.

For a minute, I start to question in my mind how good a child care facility can be that can’t even spell “happiness” correctly. Of all the things I have to worry about, that’s not one of them. Even so, back out on the street, I feel the need to make sure my son knows that the word is spelled with an I and not a Y. HAPPINESS.

“Okay, Poppa,” says Christopher, repeating the word, “Happi ness”.
“That’s a big word,” I say with approval, wishing that I could ensure Chris’s and my own happiness in the immediate future.

而在一次错过了救济站的免费住宿之后， Chris不得不带着儿子在地铁站的厕所里渡过了一晚：

Christopher tells me he has to go to the bathroom I’ve used there before, where I recall it being possible to lock the door from inside. As soon as we’re in there I realize that we don’t have to leave immediately. We can rest wash up, take our time, even sleep.

“We’re gonna wait,” I explain to Christopher, “Because it’s rush hour right now. So we’re gonna wait in here and be quiet, all right?” I make up a game called “Shhh”—I tell him that no matter how loud someone knocks on the door, the object is not to say a word. No matter what. In no time, the pounding on the door starts—people obviously don’t want to wait. But eventually we can hear the train coming and that wave leaves as those travelers probably realize they can use the bathroom in their own.

With no windows, no ventilation, no natural light, the bathroom was tiled from floor to ceiling and wasn’t more than ten by five, with one toilet and one small wash basin and a mirror made completely dark—dark enough that if I was really tired I could sleep. Christopher had a gift for sleeping everywhere and anywhere. I couldn’t bring myself to stay in there for too long, only once or twice staying the night, but for a short period, maybe a little more than two weeks, the blessed mercy of the public facilities gave me needed shelter during the darkest part of homelessness.

后期：永清