When I was a freshman in high school, I took my date to see Disney's The Little Mermaid. What could be more fun than watching an hour and a half of impossible love and devotion played out to it's sappy, story-book conclusion in award-winning animation? The movie was happy, but my relationship ended up being a long, boring affair with nary a joyous moment. I find this joylessness to be true with many aspects of life -- jobs get downsized, families get divorced, even dogs run away. Buy how can this be? How can a fish/girl get legs and a prince, and I can't even get a decent cup of coffee?
Later in life I got the chance to view the original Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid and come to find out, our little sea beauty doesn't land on her feet or marry a prince. She dies and becomes sea foam leaving us with these words of wisdom, "The prince's happiness is my happiness." This makes me wonder, should a person sacrifice his or her own happiness for the sake of someone else's? And if we all forsook joy for others, wouldn't we all be unhappy? With all this happiness bouncing around, where are the storybook endings?
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