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Edit: For those who requested for the "happymanrun" picture, here it is.
Well I was asked in literature class to write a ceative essay on "Whether Utopia could be achieved?" And here's my attempt at it. It's not real good quality but I would like to share it anyways :p
Comments and feedbacks are welcome, and if you please, think about "What ultimately makes people happy?" and reply it.
Thx!
Here's the story:
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Happy Man Run
His name was Happyman.
Happyman lived in the wild. He ran across the land, feeling the dear earth with his big bare feet, chasing a little flying bug. With a happy leap, he propelled himself ten meters into the air, fast as a missile, yelling and laughing. He twisted in midair like a string-less dummy, arms flailing and legs kicking, although with amazing precision, he gently caught the little bug inside his palm. “Haha!” He laughed at the little bug, utterly triumphant, and let it go before he landed gently on the earth, paying a polite apology to a pretty little flower he had injured during the landing. Happyman ate wild berries and drank the morning dews, sometimes he would eat little critters, but only when he was really hungry and needed meat. Happyman disliked killing. Happyman slept wherever he could, normally under a big tree he would lit himself a happy little fire, and curl up beside it. He always stared at the silver jewels in the sky before he went to sleep, and sometimes he would sing softly to the night, along with frogs and crickets.
Happyman was hungry most of the time, for it was hard to come by food in the wild. However, that did not bother him to the slightest. Happyman had hopes. When he was hungry, Happyman would run across the land, hoping to find food. Although normally he would not find any food after hours of gazing and sniffing, he never let go of his hopes. Happyman searched with such strong sense of hope that, when his hopes were granted, may it be a beehive filled with sweets and painful stings, or may it be a poisonous snake filled with tender meat and a painful bite, Happyman would be ecstatic beyond all reasons. He would raise both arms to the sky to solute it, and lay down to the earth to kiss it, beam widely, and sat down to enjoy his feast. Because everything was so scarce in the wild, whenever Happyman found anything at all, he would be happily thankful that his hopes came true.
One afternoon, when chasing another little bug in the wild, Happyman found a city. It had a great shinny stone walls that were as tall as the tallest trees and a big iron gate that would fit ten elephants. Happyman was extremely happy, for he had never seen anything like this before. Happyman ran to the gate, and he saw, glowering over the huge gate was two lines of words, carved deeply into the steel. The top line proclaimed “UTOPIA”; a smaller bottom line explained, “Where all happiness happen”. Deeply entreated, he asked the guard if he could go inside the city. “Of course you can O happy man! The magic King built it for everyone. Everything and anything you wish will be true. Now come on! What are you waiting for?” Beaming broadly, Happyman walked inside.
It was the strangest yet most magnificent city Happyman had ever seen. Little buds of springs sprang randomly out of the stone road, and the road, coated with a thin layer of water, was a gigantic dark mirror. Inside the mirror Happyman saw antic trees with antic flowers, fluorescent fireflies around the trees with fluorescent bodies. Happyman walked into a snug little inn and was immediately greeted by four pretty naked nymphs with soft green skins the color of leaves. They lifted Happyman with their soft green arms into the room and poured from their nipples wines that looked, not surprisingly, faintly green. They handed the wine to Happyman in a delicate little glassware. Happyman drank the wine and blushed deep purple, the nymphs giggled like silver bells. Happyman was then dressed with soft green silks that were warm but bore no weights. His shaggy cloths the nymphs put in a bag and put aside. That night, Happyman did not sleep underneath a tree with a little fire, he slept on a feather mattress soft yet firm, smelled of flowers. He smiled and thought quietly, “I am the happiest man alive”.
However, after a week, Happyman felt something was off. He no longer found the springs and the mirror-like road interesting; he no longer found the nymphs and their wines tasty. Days upon days of Utopia with out reason bored his mind. He therefore prayed, “O magical King! Will you not grant me more happiness?” His wish was granted immediately, in a blink of an eye, the city became more magnificent. He went to the little inn and the nymphs looked more beautiful, and the wines better too. Happyman was happy again. However, his happiness was quickly drained. Happyman sat down on the mirror and gazed into the water, and he reflected hard. It seemed that when everything that would make Happyman happy was given, he was no longer happy. Why do you hope for something when you could simply get it? Happyman asked himself. And yet, Happyman reasoned, isn’t the uncertainty whether your hopes come true the thing that makes you truly happy? Then he knew something is terribly off about this city: The magic king in this city of Utopia can grant you anything you hoped. So your hopes are nothing but a demand, and you take it for granted. Therefore you do not get the happiness in the surprise when your hopes come true because they always come true…
Happyman then bid farewell to the beautiful nymphs, the fountain, and the city. He put on his old cloths and walked out of city through the back door. The back door was small and tattered. On the top of the door, there were two lines. The bigger one proclaimed “Utopia”, but with several lines smudged over it. The bottom, smaller lines proclaimed, “Happiness is found, not given”. An old man with a rusty crown was standing next to the door, he smiled, “Happyman, now you are truly happy. Go run.”
And with that, Happyman ran laughing into the wild. He was gone.
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Hope you liked it ~_~ It's not that great hehe
Edit 2:
Thx for the compliment. Means alot to a writer ^^
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United Kingdom10597 Posts
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That was SO evan-ish
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nice story, really enjoyed it.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
nice style as usual evan~
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Isn't there someone named Happyman that posts here?
and once made some cool detective game with a bunch of ms paint things?
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Belgium8305 Posts
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Evan, you are a great narrator, and as always, it was a very enjoyable read 
My roommate is back from China on monday with The Great Journey Westward, I can't wait to read it!
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wow, this is very good
you found out something really important in life
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is your answer to whether or not a utopia could be achieved that mankinds greed gets in the way of happiness because man always wants more? im not really sure that your story really fits the question because ive always thought of a utopia to be more of a societal thing as opposed to an individual thing, and the utopia kingdom that you describe didnt really have any interaction between the community of things.
the insight you find at the end of the story would be better told had the gates of the utopia kingdom have no label as he enters, but on the inside they read utopia, signifying that happyman had already found a utopia in the wild land, living in perfect harmony with the universe.
i donno though, i just didnt feel like you really answered the question. its a neat story though.
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Vatican City State1176 Posts
*clap clap clap*
very good liked it alot
as headbangaa said you have gr8 talent ... so don't waste it
go on like this
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On September 15 2006 11:44 AiurZ wrote:
is your answer to whether or not a utopia could be achieved that mankinds greed gets in the way of happiness because man always wants more? im not really sure that your story really fits the question because ive always thought of a utopia to be more of a societal thing as opposed to an individual thing, and the utopia kingdom that you describe didnt really have any interaction between the community of things.
the insight you find at the end of the story would be better told had the gates of the utopia kingdom have no label as he enters, but on the inside they read utopia, signifying that happyman had already found a utopia in the wild land, living in perfect harmony with the universe.
i donno though, i just didnt feel like you really answered the question. its a neat story though.
I disagree. The story basically answered the question of whether or not a utopia could exist by saying that when everything is perfect, you can't appreciate things so therefore it is no longer perfect. This brings up the whole point of Good Vs Evil: if no evil existed in the world, what would good be? Furthermore, if all that existed was good, wouldnt smaller amounts of good be considered evil whereas larger amounts of good be considered truly good? The story (which is a concept which is far from original) basically says that in order to fully appreciate good things, they need to be scarce and be earned. For example, how much do you appreciate drinking water on a daily basis? Now, what if you went without water for 3 days and then you were handed a tall, cool glass of water? It would be a great feeling.
So in practicality, the utopia as we invision it is impossible. I liked the story though, enjoyable to read =)
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How can you guys bring in such a shitty discussion to such a fun story.
Go write storybooks for a living. It'll make children all over the world happy.
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Can you post the flash with the happy man running?
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Korea (South)11598 Posts
evanthebouncy~ you should really consider writing childrens book, this was really good.
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A++++++++++++++ would read again
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On September 15 2006 12:41 SuperJongMan wrote:
How can you guys bring in such a shitty discussion to such a fun story.
Go write storybooks for a living. It'll make children all over the world happy.
reading something simply for its outward appearance is what poor readers do. when i read something i want it to be engaging and this "shitty discussion" should be the goal of the writer.
i dont think happiness and a utopia go hand in hand, because happiness is only one spectrum in the large range of human emotion. the vision of the utopia kingdom in this story shows one spectrum of the equation, a place where everything is objectified and is used for a pleasurable existence. the image of the pristine mirror streets, the naked nymphs with wine pouring from their breasts disgusted me because the lack of humanity in it all. to me, the kingdom of utopia was similar to the dystopia described in brave new world.
if happiness is equated with a utopia, then happyman's original world, the harmonious wild, would be a utopia, because that is his place of happiness. i think the in depth description of this place serves to emphasize that the world is perfect and in harmony. happyman, content and happy, then discovered the utopia, and he lets go of everything he had to go, specifically the world he lived in. this is the inherent greed of mankind. happyman was already happy, and already lived in a utopia, and he gives up everything because his own greed wanted everything that he could possibly dream of. he becomes what he describes as the happiest man alive.
greed pushes happyman farther and farther, until he realizes what has happened and leaves, noting that "hapiness is found, not given."
however, happyman found the kingdom of utopia when he was following his hopes and dreams, chasing the insect. wouldnt that be cause to believe that the utopia was the reward for happyman for following his hopes all this dream? would the utopia not be the culmination of happymans hard work and preserverance, his reverence for life and his harmony with nature? this giant magnificent city is the riches that await you when you finally achieve your dreams. happyman finally has his dreams come true, and he has finally been rewarded, but he is not happy with that, because of his inherent greed.
i think this is a pretty neat story, and with its tone it could easily be a nice childrens story or some fairytale. at the same time, i dont think it addresses the question well enough, and at the same time the conclusion it draws strikes me as lacking.
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Acrobats & Comets are floating by so fast
Children's faces smile like suns at last
Lilac butterflies are cruising without fear
All inviting you to stay and rest here
You can halt your car for an afternoon in Utopia
We shall stop the wars on those afternoons in Utopia
Mighty Mao moondog drifts across the grass
Healing lullabies for Easter Time on Mars
Paint your hats and shoes with flowers and with stars
singing in Metropolitan Operas
You can halt your car for an afternoon in Utopia
We shall stop the wars on those afternoons in Utopia
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I'm always amazed at what some people are doing in school.
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i am impressed. your writing is very... happy.
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On September 15 2006 11:17 HeadBangaa wrote:Evan, you are a great narrator, and as always, it was a very enjoyable read My roommate is back from China on monday with The Great Journey Westward, I can't wait to read it!
O sick man :p
English translated version? :D
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On September 15 2006 15:52 Zooey wrote:
dude wine from nipples? wtf
:p Yeah that's right. Beautiful wines from the nipples of the nymphs. You bet you want some!
O and for those who asked.
I = happymanrun = SOrrow_eyes
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... what the heck did I just read? OR DID IT READ ME!!?!?!?!?!?!??!? OMG I'M TiNKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!!!! OR IS THE BOX THINKING OUTSIDE ME
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Jim Carrey said something in the lines of "I wish everybody would be rich, so they could buy anything they desire, and realise that that's not really what they want."
Great story.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c106/Evanpu/FUNRUNHAPPY.gif)
