Coronavirus is a Serious Challenge to Happiness⎜The Dennis Prager Radio Show

All right, 1-800-PRAGER-776. Is there a challenge to your happiness at this time? And I'm sure there is. There's a challenge to everybody's happiness at this time. And I'd like to hear from you in that regard, or things that you've worked out. Happiness and your isolation, that's what this is about. In the meantime, I will tell you how the major themes of my views on happiness are so, unfortunately, are so clearly right at this time. So for example, what is my basic theme? That we have a moral obligation to others to act happy, right? And That's it. I mean, that's, if I could talk to kids, I mean high school kids, let's say, that is one of the most important things I could tell them. I was invited to a very prestigious prep high school, one of the most prestigious in Southern California, a number of years ago. The conservative kids, the handful of conservative students there, to their great credit, organized and organized and even raised some money for me to come. It was not nearly what I normally charge, but they did raise something, and it was to their credit. So I came. My wife was with me. She can testify to this. So this young woman Bright, beautiful, I mean really just a terrific girl. So she greets me and she says, "So Mr. Prager, what's your topic?" 'Cause they worked so hard to finally get a conservative. And I said, "Happiness." And she and the others with her were clearly, I mean they were very polite, but they were a little stunned. We worked so hard to bring a conservative, and he is gonna talk about happiness? Of course, it turned out that it was the best thing I could talk about. They told me weeks later it was the most talked about speech in the history of the school. And I drove the liberal teachers crazy that I said you have a moral obligation to act happy. Oh, it was so— it so bothered some of the teachers that they started— at least one I remember just really laced into me. I mean, not disrespectfully, but laced into the argument and how important unhappiness is that makes creativity. Anyway, why did I choose that? Because if I can get young people to understand they cannot act based on their feelings, they will be happier, better, and less likely to fall into the trap of leftism. Happiness? Well, I do not have a political agenda with the Happiness Hour. But it has inevitably a political ramification. The moment you think your feelings don't matter, only your behavior does, you have left the left. Anyway, so my point is you're in quarantine, you're in isolation, almost all of you with someone. If that someone acts moody, you're having a tough time. Which brings me— that's number one lesson of what I have talked about all these years: the moral obligation to act happy when around others. You don't want to act happy when you're alone? That's your business. It's between you and your shower curtain. That's fine with me. Another, another one. Candace Owens asked me on a fireside chat about before the coronavirus, said, Dennis, you attended, uh, or, you know, it's a video question that she called in. So Dennis, you attended our wedding, my wedding, and I want— I didn't get a chance to talk to you much, so what is your advice to a couple, young couple getting married? And I said, be as easy to live with as possible. That's my advice. Easy. You know how— what a blessing that is to live with an easy person? Now you really know. Before this, you can get out of the house every day or Or that person got out of the house every day. Or you both got out of the house every day. Now you're in the house together every single day, all day. Easy is quite a virtue. No, who talks about it though? Or the moral obligation to be happy. Who talks about these things? It's so odd to me that such basic stuff in life is It's just not talked about. All righty, everybody. Are you pointing to the calls? 1-800-PRAGER, 776-877-243-7776. One more. If nothing's horrific, life is terrific. Now, a lot of you are thinking, wow, wow, if only this didn't happen and I could be back to 6 weeks ago or 4 weeks ago. Yeah, but 4 weeks ago, were you saying how terrific things are? I was, because nothing's horrific. I've never looked forward to great things to be happy. Never. I have been thrilled that nothing horrific was happening.

If nothing's horrific, then life is terrific.

That's right. Maybe— look, I know a lot of you take what I say seriously, and I've earned that, but I think people will take it a little more seriously as a result of how true things are or how clear these lessons have been now that people are living them. Alrighty, everybody, let's go to Mark in Dallas. Hello, Mark.

Hi there. Hi. It's an honor, sir.

Thank you.

I guess I'll just get straight to it.

Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I'm not hearing you clearly. Yeah, it's muffled, it's really muffled. Are you speaking into the phone?

I'm speaking into the phone, yes.

Now you are, okay.

I'm 35 years old.

What was the last word? Oh, you're 35 years old, go ahead, yeah.

A management position in Dallas, Texas. And I suppose my struggle is, We've had to decide, I've had to lay off a quarter of my team. And, you know, I was discussing it with one of my colleagues and we referred to it as survivor's remorse where, you know, we, you know, we took a pay cut, but we're still there and our families are still being supported, but the people that were laid off and then there's, going to be more furloughs, how that kind of—

What is the nature of your work? I missed that word because of the muffled sound. What is your work?

It's in the apparel industry.

Oh, the apparel industry, okay.

Yes.

It's horrible, Mark, it's horrible. There is, the first thing that one has to do in life whether the subject is happiness or anything else, is acknowledge life. This is a terrible, terrible thing, and you are in the midst of a terrible thing. And I acknowledge this is a serious challenge at this time to your happiness.