As I continue on in this search for joy, I find that I am learning a bit more about myself in the process. I always just assumed that I already knew all about myself  on the sheer qualification that I am going through this life as me, but I realize that isn't always so. I'm glad I started this blog. It is helping me to work out those thoughts that percolate in my brain throughout the day.
The joy for the day is history, or the study of it. This week I've watched two documentaries, one on Teddy Roosevelt and the other on the American Revolution. (Both were originally PBS programs. On a side note, why is it that many of the things I like to watch originate on PBS? Are they the only station capable of producing intelligent television?)
Teddy Roosevelt I admire because he was his own man. He didn't let the powerful men (i.e., J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, etc) bully him. He went right after the monopolies and broke them up. He also was a big conservationist. At that time, the big fashion for women was hats, particularly hats with feathers on them. Consequently millions of birds were being slaughtered for the sake of fashion. He went right after the milliners too, albeit with a little less success than the trustbusting. I don't think we'll ever see another politician like him again. Too many politicians are worried about public opinion than about doing the right thing as if public opinion were a good thing to base morality on.
The American Revolution I find fascinating because this had never been done before. Nobody had dared to say, "Hey, don't tax us without giving us any representation first!"  (Or if they had, it had been squelched.) The colonists knew their rights under English law, and Great Britain was violating them.
I love to read about John and Abigail Adams. I highly recommend David McCullough's John Adams by the way. In the book, he paints a picture of John that is not always very flattering, but makes him seem more real than the flattened portrayals we get in most history textbooks. He was a vain, proud man, aware that he was not always the most popular, and he was always ticking off somebody, but he was also brilliant and always had reasons for what he did. His wife has to be on my list of most admired women of all time. She understood John like nobody else, she put up with him, took care of the farm while he was away (and there were separated for a good chunk of their marriage), raised their kids, but also reminded him to "remember the ladies.". She was a very smart woman and the perfect wife for him. This biography of John Adams is what made me start reading more history and it's become a joy for me to see exactly what happened back then and what life was like.