Happy Enough… or Not?

Happy? She wants me to be happy?

Mrs. T. is currently giving us a beauuuuutiful speech about being happy because it’s Adar. That Purim is not just about singing songs and doing shtick and dreaming up fancy mishloach manos. That it’s about finding a real, inner simchah. “Not the superficial kind of happiness that is based on things,” she says. “Something real!”

Honestly, what is she thinking?

A quick glance around the room shows that my classmates are fascinated by Mrs. T.’s little speech; none of them seem to have any problem with it at all. In fact, many of them look transfixed, absolutely hooked.

My stomach lurches. I need to get out of here. Fast.

I must escape this room, where the teacher excitedly talks about happiness, as if being truly happy is actually possible.