How To Be Happy By Unknown
I own many books that are filled with poems. My favorite one is "The Best Loved Poems of the American People." I must've gotten it from a thrift store or something along those lines, because its quite old. My two favorite poems are in iti. One I've already reacted to and the other I don't feel like I would really do it justice to react to it just yet. Searching through the book for maybe the 100th time I believe I've found a new favorite. "How To Be Happy" The author is unknown, but I can clearly see that we thought the same way.
The title really caught my eye it was exactly what I needed. I was in a cruddy mood while searching for a poem. I thought this poem would help cheer me up, and I wasn’t wrong. The poem itself speaks nothing but truths, from the first line to the last. The poems main point is if you're in a miserable mood, and you don't see how anything is going to turn out good, then you should try to help someone out. According to the poem helping someone with anything would not only get you out of your glum state but keep you from being bored and help you see that everything in this earth is not all bad.
"Do something for someone, quick!" From my own experiences I can say that this is completely true, I find myself extremely happy after helping anyone no matter how large or small the task I helped them with was. Even if I wasn't already in a bad mood helping someone just cheers me up even more. It's even been proven that helping other people or even complimenting them makes you feel good about yourself to. I believe that happens because when someone else is happy you'd also be happy for them too. Maybe even seeing their smile puts a smile on your face as well. For myself I just get a good feeling in my stomach that tells me I've done something right.
The poem itself could make anyone feel better, it just has a very upbeat tone. It's rhyme scheme also enhances the poem being ABAB, I read the poem just like the song "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV is sung. Of course that's kind of a creepy song, but the poem sounds better if you apply the same clapping rhythm while reading it. I also suggest head bobbing, who can be sad when your head is moving up and down, you probably look pretty silly.
The poem points out many things that anyone would be sad about. Such as “earthly affairs in a terrible whirl,” I believe the speaker is trying to say that we shouldn’t worry ourselves, especially that kind of stuff. In the past, the present, and in the future there will always be hardships. There is nothing to avoid them, but you can take your mind off of it by helping someone in need. Everyday there are people struggling with no one to help them, one good deed could help. If you see a person struggling with bags of groceries, help them out. If you see a person looking sad complement them, its tiny things that brighten people's day. When other people are happy you could be happy too. 
I grew up with that book. My mother would read it to us frequently and wrote notes in it. Somewhere in time it moved on. (I wonder if my sister might have borrowed it) I miss that book so much. This is the one that has stayed in my mind for the past almost 70 years.
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