happiness as weapon

Happiness 

I'm still thinking of the Happiness-as-a-Weapon idea from a few days ago.

When I was growing up, at least once a month Grandma Ramsey would say to me, "Be Happy!" Furthermore, not one piece of advice did she ever give me except "be happy." "A fool and his money are soon parted"? Huh-uh. "Early to bed and early to rise, blah, blah, blah"?

Nah.

Just, be happy.

As a kid, I remember mulling this over. "What kind of advice is this?!" I thought. "Who wouldn't be happy if they could?!" And, "Why can't I have grandparents who'd tell me something smart." (It didn't help that my adorable grandparents were ninth-grade dropouts .)

Now, of course, like all grown-up kids, I'm thinking, How did they get to be so smart?