Are we born to be happy?

I was having lunch with my boss a few days ago, and suddenly he told me "we are not born happy in this world, we can only be happy if we permit our selves to be happy". I was a bit taken by surprise when he told me that. I asked whether it is a quote that he read somewhere, but he said it came up through his mind after people came up to him for consultation about their life problems. Besides being a successful businessman, my boss is also an evangelist and a pastor. It was quite a surprise when I learned about his other profession, to be honest, I've never met anyone like him before.

The minute I heard what my boss has told me, my mind started to think of its actual meaning. Are we initially born to live in this world without happiness? Are we meant to live in sadness, depression and fated to face all possible problems in life? I remembered when a wise friend of mine asked me "why babies cried once they were born?", I tried to answer him in scientific terms, but he said: "no, that is not the correct answer". "The baby cried because it knows that the world is filled with evil, and from evil will sprout all the bad and unfortunate things that will make people suffer in life".His answer was too deep for me to understand back then as I was still young, but as time goes by and as I grew older and has tasted the ups and downs of life, I began to understand it.

Some people are privileged to be born in a rich family, and very seldom that we'll hear that they are having a hard time in life, unlike peoples who live in extreme poverty. But it doesn't mean that the rich don't have their own problems, they do have problems too but it is slightly different to what the poor have to endure. So, are we really born in this world to be sad? In my opinion, there are no exact answers to this question. It all depends on each and every individual's perceptions about life. The rich will definitely give a different answer than what we expected from the poor.

For me, I believe that all people should thrive to live their life to their fullest, to thrive and live a life filled with happiness no matter how they will achieve it. We are not born into this world just to be sad, life is beautiful and we should cherish every moment of it as long as we live. No matter if we are rich or poor, we must accept the path that has been chosen for us and use it to achieve the happiness that we seek and yearn for.