The word "happy" is derived from an Old Norse word, happ, meaning chance or luck; the word "hapless," from the same root, means unfortunate. Until the past two centuries, happiness was considered a gift of God or the gods; people could pursue it, but they couldn't control it, and they certainly couldn't will it.
For the past 2,500 years, scholars, theologians and politicians have wrangled over the definition of happiness and, more specifically, what makes people happy. The Declaration of Independence staked out the pursuit of happiness as one of three unalienable rights of humans. But when an unhappy American complained to Benjamin Franklin that his country was not fulfilling its promise to him, Franklin was said to have replied, "The [Declaration of Independence] only gives you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
A recent Pew Research Center poll on happiness found that 84% of the 3,000 Americans interviewed described themselves as being "very" or "pretty" happy. Are you one of them or one of the 15% who said they weren't so happy or one of the 1% who couldn't say if they were happy or not?
Source: Deja Vu, The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2006.