TCP May 2021

On the first Monday of every month, we meet on Zoom to discuss transatlantic and global issues. The idea is that even though we are in different places geographically and personally, we exchange ideas, learn from each other, and grow more and more into a part of an understanding global society.

In May, we talked about the “pursuit of happiness.” Once again, we were inspired by the U.S. Constitution. In addition, happiness is often seen as everyone’s daily goal, and the “pursuit of happiness” has long been part of international pop culture. Therefore, we felt it was important to discuss our views on happiness in our personal lives, but also on what happiness means for a society, especially when the most important legal document presents happiness as an important goal and human right.

As always we were guided through the discussion by some texts that we discover after a brief and relatively random research, these were our references:

Hannah Arendt on Action and the Pursuit of Happiness | Brain Pickings (Maria Popova)

Our ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ Is Killing the Planet | The New York Times (James Traub)