Just like any human being on the planet, a lot of things have been said about me but the one that is repeatedly said by people around me is this, I am too happy. Yes, I repeat, that is what people fault me for: for being too nice and too happy. I recall a former boss writing that in my evaluation as if it was the most irksome thing to be one the planet.
This is the thought running in my mind when everyone’s beloved Franzea asked if she could spend Saturday night watching Trolls with her Baba, Nana, and Uncle Anthony. I happily obliged because I secretly wanted to watch it too. I heard that Trolls was about happiness and Anna Kendrick and after the few weeks I have had, I couldn’t help but dive into a world where happiness was a driving force.
Poppy brought my optimistic self to life with her hug time, scrap booking, singing, and her incessant need to remind everyone of the bright side of life. I cried buckets during a scene where she was drained of color and cried even harder when I realized that yes, even the happiest, poppiest seed could also lose her sparkle every once in awhile. And that was okay because after a few tears and a few songs, you’ll be okay again.
What drew me to the movie was the nemesis’ reason for eating the trolls: to find and secure happiness. All through out the movie, the Bergens were sullen, sad, depressed, and pessimistic. They only allowed themselves one day to feel happy and that was at the expense of the lives of the trolls.
As a child, the plot is quite simple, but as a grown up adult, you see the underlying metaphors in the story and bam, you end up crying loads in a movie house while your niece chomps on her popcorn happily. You see even if we are not in the world of trolls, Bergens exist everyday.
Likened to the dementors of Harry Potter, bergens are out to kill, steal, and destroy. They work hard to suck everyone out of life with the promise that this is what ultimately would lead to their happiness. They are so focused on capturing all the happy Trolls in the land that they forget that they can secure happiness on their own.
The world’s bergens constantly tells us to acquire more, buy more, be better than the next person, suck the life of another, tear down another to be superior all in the hopes of becoming happy. You see, I’d like to think that bergens aren’t necessarily people, just like the villains in are own lives are not. Instead, they are people who have become blinded to wanting so much to feel happiness that they do the exact opposite: ruin lives to get to that point.
We are constantly told that in order to find lasting joy, we have to have more than another. We begin to live in a world where there is lack instead of abundance, when in fact (and I’ve always believed this) that there is something for everyone and when we believe that, that’s when the doors of life open.
There was something that Poppy said that resounded with me the most, “Happiness isn’t what you don’t have, it is what is already inside of you.”
One of my favorite verses speak of losing one’s soul to profit the world but what happens when the world eats up your soul? You end up emptier than you have been. By gaining our happiness from external factors, we end up emptying ourselves, leading to a dark abyss of depression and discontent.
When it comes to life and happiness, one always has a choice. You can choose to be a bergen and expect others to make you happy or you can choose to be the good kind of Troll and choose to see the bright side no matter how tough life is.
One is heavy, the other is light. It’s up to you to decide which you decide to bear.
Happy Sunday.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” – Matthew 11:28-30
