Self-Respect or Happiness?

Living in America we strive for happiness, it is even written as one of the fundamental ideas in our nation’s constitution. That alone should give us perspective on the importance of happiness in our country. When our forefathers came here, they wanted to be independent from a monarchial system, so they wanted everyone to live for themselves and give each one of us the chance to find our own happiness. This is very different in other countries, especially nondemocratic ones. Some countries (especially in the Middle East) don’t have these kinds of freedoms and privileges, so they strive for reputation, image and self-respect. I personally think self-respect and happiness go hand in hand; it is hard to be truly happy if you have a poor self image. I know when I feel down on myself, I am not particularly happy, in those times. That being said I think happiness is vital and it needs to be the priority of anyone’s life. When you are happy you don’t just coast through the days, you actually live life everyday to its full potential. For example: if I had a job that made me a ton of money, and in that process I was miserable and all I strived for was a “good job” from my boss and recognition from all the upper-management, that job would certainly give me a strong sense of self respect and worth, but I don’t know if I would be truly happy, or if I would necessarily enjoy it. As opposed to if I had a job that I absolutely loved, that paid me a little bit less, but was a lot more fun and enjoyable for me, I think I would take that any day of the week. That’s why I think parents and teachers always push kids to do what they want, and not what pays the most. I think people can get lost in self-image and self respect; it can become more of a task. When you ask a 3^rd grade class what they want to be when they grow up, I doubt any one of them will say: “I want to be an executive who works one hundred hours a week and makes at least six figures”. I remember when I was younger and all I had to worry about was school and sports, It was so carefree, there was no stress involved I just went day to day thinking of what I was going to do that was fun. Now that I work, go to school, play on upper-level sports teams, I have a lot more people that I have to impress, and a lot more things that I must succeed at in order to get respect from others as well as earn self-respect. I like when people like me, it is comforting to know when you make a good impression on someone, it gives us self-respect and self-worth, but it also makes us happy. So I think the ultimate goal is happiness, self-respect is very important and we must strive for it, but it does not stop at self-respect, it stops at happiness.