Vol. 58 No. 32 • February 28, 2017

What is happiness? Each one of us would have a different answer to this simple question. Many believe that happiness is as simple as having fun with our family or friends, the excitement of new experiences, or the thrill and passion of experiencing love. These are all wonderful experiences no doubt, which we need to cherish and cultivate. But these are experiences to have and let pass. So what is happiness?

A 24-year-old beautiful young woman, who was also my patient, once asked me, “Doctor, after seeing so much of suffering, how do you still manage to be happy and cheerful?” I was taken aback with the question. I had never thought about this before. I questioned myself, am I a detached, unemotional person? How do I manage to feel happy despite so much of pain that I see every day around me?

Today, after practicing for more than 40 years as a doctor – I realised that as a doctor I felt happy relieving patients of their pain and distress. As a Rotarian, I now realize that happiness has a co-relation with serving humanity. The more we do for people around us the happier we feel. In fact, research has shown that we also live healthier.

Rotary spreads happiness through its many initiatives in education and healthcare. Whether it is our Talwada, Cotton Green or IWA clinics or our Bhavishya Yaan schools, Scholarships and Night Study centers, we are spreading happiness around us. I remember a little poem;

“Life is an echo; all comes back The good, the bad, the false, and the true So give the world the best you have And the best will come back to you”