School's Out, Time to Blog; Give the People What They Want; or Location, Location, Location

Tonight, Tracy and I finally watched a movie that everyone has been telling us to watch since we first got to Australia, The Castle (as in “a man's house is his castle”). It's a classic Aussie comedy about a family forced to fight a legal battle for their home which is going to be taken to expand the neighboring airport. It is a very sweet and endearing portrait of a father who loves nothing more than his family and the home that they live in. We were rooting (although that word has a different meaning here) for the family the whole time, because we did not want to see these good people kicked out of the home that they love so much. Then I started to think about how I have not lived in the same home for longer than a year for over eight years. So, while I was lying in bed thinking about The Castle and my modern nomad life, I started to think about the extent to which we often allow our location to determine our happiness. Actually, this is something that I've been thinking about for a while now (for obvious reasons). I think that most people have an ideal place that they would like to live, or at least an idea of the kind of place. Personally, I think that I would be very happy to settle down and have a castle of my own in Santa Fe. Ultimately, though, I hope that I could be happy anywhere. I realize that each place on this diverse planet has different qualities that may be more or less amenable to a comfortable, happy life. For instance, living in Australia, and even DC, has made me realize the value of being close to family; so, location is important in that regard. However, when I was living at home, I was unhappy with my location, because I did not feel like small town life suited me. Then I moved to Austin, where I was still relatively close to my family, but, although it felt like home, after a few years I felt the need to change locations again. Austin had changed. I had changed. So, a new location was needed. Actually, it wasn't as linear as that. We missed Austin a lot during the first year in DC, and thought that we might have been happier if we had not moved. Then, as we became more acclimated to DC (or Takoma Park, rather), it started to feel like home; but we knew we didn't want to stay there forever, and Australia sounded like fun, so away we went again. Now, as excited as we were about coming, we just cannot wait to go back to the states, and change our location yet again. My happiness has been facilitated by moving locations, but The Castle made me think about how other peoples' happiness may be equally determined by their continued occupation of the same location. Moving because you're trying to find a place where you can be happy is just as bad as refusing to move because you think that you cannot be happy anywhere else but where you are. So, if you are unhappy with where you are or are afraid that you cannot be happy anywhere else, don't be. I'm not saying, don't move or do move. I'm saying that it does not matter. Don't let your location determine your happiness. It's not up to the location, it's up to you. Be happy that your location is Earth. Be happy that your location is this moment, every moment. Be happy that your location is you, your body, your soul. If I had it in me, and I wasn't afraid of losing the few of you who have read this far already (thanks mom), I might talk about how time and space are relative to support my argument that location is largely irrelevant; but I think you get the idea. At least, I hope you do. Law school has made it hard for me to write congruently without legal citations to tie everything together.