Among the Angels Among Us

On the television show The Office that aired from 2005-13, Rainn Wilson played the role of the analytical, left brained character, Dwight. He worked for the fictional paper company, Dunder Miflin in Scranton, New Jersey. Recently, Rainn was the commencement speaker at the University of Southern California.

He offered some thoughts on happiness for the soon-to-be graduates. "Happiness is so fleeting—it’s like cotton candy," Rainn said. "It looks amazing, delightful, fluffy and pink. You joyously eat it and almost immediately regret your decision. Your fingers are sticky, you're undergoing an insulin crash from the half-pound of sugar you just sucked down, and you're hungry again almost immediately."

But Rainn had a warning on how to find that happiness: "In this me-me-me culture, focus on yourself and you will find only misery, depression, emptiness. Focus on helping others and you will find joy, contentment, gratitude and buckets and buckets of eudaimonia."

Today’s gift was to buy lunch for my mother’s friend, Betty. When I asked her what she does in her spare time, she replied, “I write cards to people who need inspiration. I spend a lot of my days doing that.” My mother has been the recipient of her kindness receiving multiple cards and gifts, just when she needs it most. I felt that I was among an angel among us.

In Giving,
Robin

Watch the video of Rainn’s speech here.