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I enjoyed this a lot. As Hal Varian says:

Happiness isn't having what you want. It's wanting what you have.

Growing up on the far South Side of Chicago, we didn't have a frozen lake handy, but there was this odd phenomenon where some lots were permanently vacant, usually belonging to the houses next to them. I guess land was cheap at one point. Now if I go there on StreetView, they all have houses.

Anyway, these vacant lots were always sunken below street level, and many of the adjacent owners would flood them in winter so the neighborhood kids could skate on them. Imagine doing that in the current litigation-heavy climate.

I don't remember anyone golfing on them, though. We did play hockey. If the puck went into the snow, you'd "take it out" like in basketball.




According to [0] the quote is attributed to Rabbi Hyman Schachtel.

According to [1] the quote is by Garth Brooks.

I wonder which one is right.

[0] - https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/461438-happiness-is-not-hav...

[1] - https://taddasfitness.com/blog/100932/Happiness-isn-t-having...


Thank you. I didn't claim Hal originated the quote. Just that I got it from him, as far as I can remember.


Thanks for sharing this quote, it became known to me in a similar form through Sheryl Crowe's Soak Up the Sun:

> It's not having what you want

> It's wanting what you've got

It always amazed me that such a powerful idea could be conveyed in two lines of a pop song, so it makes a lot of sense that it came from elsewhere.


Sheryl Crowe, Garth Brooks... What can't they teach us?

(that was a joke, if it wasn't obvious.)


> flood them in winter so the neighborhood kids could skate on them. Imagine doing that in the current litigation-heavy climate.

Plenty of folks still set up neighborhood rinks just like this here in New England!




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