WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- By Janet Langsam
I cringed when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced: "There is no such thing as happiness…it's only a mirage."
I was shocked because Putin's "mirage" is the ultimate denial of three American ideals embodied in our Declaration of Independence – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Somehow, as Americans, we are comfortable with the symbolism of life and liberty, equality, and justice for all. But talk about the pursuit of happiness and we become confused by its meaning. We are even unsure of whether we deserve to pursue happiness.
Do we not deserve happiness? Or can we accept a life without some of the things we hold dear, such as the arts and music?
In this troubling time, when our country's social and political future seems up for grabs, have we failed to acknowledge the pursuit of happiness as an important and actionable public purpose?
I am a kid from Far Rockaway, N.Y. who grew up with sand in my shoes, far away from anything that remotely resembled an artistic lifestyle. Somehow, I wandered into a lifetime of supporting the arts. Our forefathers understood and codified the pursuit of happiness as an essential goal of a true, fair, independent and hopeful America. Yet in more recent years, there is a growing dismissal and demonization of the value of intangible resources like the arts.
The arts are not the only measures of the pursuit of happiness. It may be wealth, or sports or ornithology. At this moment, we have experienced a pandemic during which sheer survival was at stake. In such a crisis, can we afford to dabble in the pursuit of happiness, or can we afford not to? Is the pursuit of happiness really the four-letter word "hope"? Do we need it to survive?
In recent efforts to raise money for the arts, I was lectured by a young corporate executive in charge of foundation giving. As I extolled the virtues of the arts, she raised her right hand and said authoritatively: "There are must-haves like food and shelter." With her left hand raised, she countered." Then there are the nice-to-haves, like the arts."
It has come to that — a false choice between the must-haves and the nice-to-haves. Someone please ask: Can man live on bread alone? During the past several years, we have become accustomed to Russian-backed rhetoric in our media and discourse. Can Americans embrace the pursuit of happiness as something more than the acquisition of wealth? Or, as Winston Churchill once asked during World War II: "What are we fighting for?"
Janet Langsam is the CEO of ArtsWestchester in White Plains, N.Y.
About ArtsWestchester: Founded in 1965, ArtsWestchester is the largest, private, not-for-profit arts council in New York State. Its mission is to create an equitable, vibrant and sustainable Westchester County in which the arts are integral to and integrated into every facet of life.
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SOURCE ArtsWestchester
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