Is it depression if you're unhappy when there's so much to be unhappy about? Has happiness always been at best a conscious rejection of one's own sorrow and at worst an ignorance of the iniquity and injustice that has constantly been a part of our society? https://apnews.com/0f6b9be04fa0d3194401821a72665a50

It's not a rhetorical question for me. I've never really been a happy person and have always been drawn to sites deeply rooted in sadness. I often wonder if sorrow is more honest because it acknowledges suffering and if happiness requires turning a blind eye to the pain of others

Put another way, is happiness a luxury of privilege or a choice/goal to be worked towards? Is contentment what blinds us the work we need to do to fix our world while there's still time to do it and, most importantly, if it does is it even beneficial to have it?

Our happiness has been built on possessions made by kids in sweatshops and prisoners in labor camps; on a lifestyle that destroys the environment causing mass extinctions; on ignoring racial disparities and poorly paid jobs with no benefits. Is happiness even a worthy goal?

The only place I've ever been content is at ground zero - not because it makes me happy but because it makes me feel like I'm doing something of value at last - and I always wished I could leave sadness behind, that there was something wrong with me for having it.

I still can't figure out if I should just accept that as part of who I am and a natural response to the world around me, or whether it's possible to find peace anyway and whether I should be working towards that. I wish there were answers in life and not just unending questions.