By David Hegg

The great American pastime is no longer baseball, or for that matter, anything even remotely related to sport. No, it is much more consuming than any passion for a team or city could be. It is the addiction we have to happiness.

Our days have become a constant pursuit of this feeling. From the moment the alarm announces the day, we search for happiness. We look for it in a cup of coffee, the newspaper and some quiet moments. We tune in to find it on our favorite radio station as we drive to work, and maybe in the always-hoped-for quick commute. You can fill in your details, but you know what I mean.

We go through the day, using carefully honed strategies to attract bits and pieces of happiness, all in an attempt to hold at bay the truth that gnaws at us from inside. And here it is. This world, with its demands and complexities, its consistent injustices, its decay and brokenness, appears to be an invincible storm progressively eroding our optimism about life. And, sensing we can do little to stop the erosion, we convince ourselves that little shots of........

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