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Jan. 28, 2020 - Dennis Prager Show
07:24
Winston Churchill's Pathway to Happiness
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I mean, you know, I've been doing this since 1999 that, you know, it's almost 20 years of happiness hours.
That's 20 times, that's 20, it's 1,000, right?
20 times 50 is 1,000?
Yeah.
So it's 1,000 hours.
Now, I've obviously repeated topics, and it's important that I do.
So I didn't do 1,000 topics, but I must have done 300 topics, 400 topics.
It's amazing.
Anyway, this one, so I was going to have the living martyrs say some words, but we spoke during the break, and I got his input.
And it is, so I want to add something, because this is a very big deal.
And it was triggered by the very end of this very long biography I just finished of Winston Churchill.
And it spoke about his very many enthusiasms, and the one in this case was butterflies, which he had collected all over the world.
And, you know, I have that temperament.
I get very enthusiastic about very many things, and it's a major source of my happiness.
So I have the ongoing question of, what if it's not your nature?
Can you develop enthusiasms?
Well, there's only one way to know.
Try it and find out.
How do you know that you're not enthusiastic about X or Y or Z? You have to give it a try.
Is that all right?
Are we fixed now?
So, you don't know.
It's fascinating.
My stepson is extremely talented in building things, anything almost, and in IT. I mean, he's just gifted.
It's clear.
These things come to him.
He's an autodidact.
He's learned all of this.
And he's making a serious income based on what he's taught himself.
And you know how it started?
He's been in my life much of his life.
It started in high school when he didn't get, I forgot what he had requested, the class filled up.
So he was given, he was just simply put in set building, a set building class for plays that the students would put on.
It was the last thing in his life he thought he would be interested in.
And that changed his life.
He has such a gift for building.
And then for IT and for electronics.
I mean, that whole world.
Everything related to it.
You have to expose yourself and try to get enthusiastic.
It doesn't just fall down on you.
I knew this.
I was very lucky.
I had wisdom as a kid.
I take no credit for it.
I just had it.
I was given it and I had it.
In high school, I knew I want to be enthusiastic about a lot of things, excluding high school.
And I even, I'll never forget, I had no interest in ballet.
I subscribed for a year to the New York City Ballet.
And it turned out I still had no interest in ballet.
But I was proud of myself.
I spent the money, and I gave it a try.
I was crazy about classical music.
That started because of the same thing.
I didn't know I would like classical music.
I mean, you just don't know.
Maybe it'll be butterflies for you.
Maybe building.
Carpentry.
But enthusiasms, the more the merrier.
Now, here is the problem.
Because everything comes with a problem.
The living martyr raised this during the break.
Okay, so Dennis, he said, he saith to me, what if the enthusiasm is video games?
Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with video games.
You know, you play it an hour or so a day, you know, everybody has their diversion.
Okay, fine.
But when it becomes an enthusiasm, And it doesn't have inherent...
I don't think video games have much inherent worth.
I'm not saying they're bad.
Let me make that clear.
It's like I play hearts.
I admit it doesn't have any inherent worth.
But it's a diversion.
Gotcha.
I understand people need that and so on.
But I wouldn't say Hearts is one of my enthusiasms.
I would say it's a diversion.
It's a fun diversion.
It's not an enthusiasm.
I don't think about it when I'm not doing it.
I can go any length of time without it.
But I like it when I can play it.
It's a nice diversion while I'm writing an article.
Take a break.
Play a game of Hearts.
Two games of Hearts.
So that's different.
I don't consider diversion and enthusiasm quite the same thing.
People are enthusiastic about gambling.
I mean, you know, you can get worse.
I'm not against gambling, if you do it for fun.
If you're a serious gambler, it's a very serious problem.
So, I obviously understand there are enthusiasms and there are enthusiasms.
Okie dokie!
Let's go!
Two calls here.
Detroit, Michigan, Karen.
Hi, Karen.
Dennis Prager.
Hi, Mr. Prager.
Pleasure to speak with you.
Thank you.
I was really lucky because I had wise parents, and they kind of forced us to have enthusiasm because any time, first of all, they required a certain amount of reading, and we've all become very enthusiastic readers.
They required us to choose.
A hobby, whether it be dance, music, whatever, and try it for at least a season.
Then if you wanted to change to something else, you could, but you had to do something.
And we've all developed different things that we enjoy.
But we grew up having to do that.
So I absolutely think that it's something that can be acquired and taught to someone.
Obviously better if you're at a young age.
I did it with my daughter.
She's doing it with her children.
And we all do have things that we're really passionate about.
That's great.
You know what?
Thank you.
By the way, that does remind me why I am so opposed to so much homework.
It's one of the many reasons I can't stand this movement to massive homework.
It dulls the child's world.
What enthusiasm are they going to build with more math homework?
That's exactly right.
Back in a moment.
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