There are more than 1,300 words in the Declaration of Independence, America’s seminal document, penned 250 years ago this July. The author – University of Virginia founder Thomas Jefferson – wasted no time in declaring “the pursuit of happiness” as one of the “unalienable Rights,” getting to that concept in the first 100 words, or so.
As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, UVA President Scott Beardsley invited eight members of the University community to the Rotunda on Monday to share how they pursue happiness.
“Welcome to a beautiful night in the Dome Room,” Beardsley said in greeting, adding that it was both interesting and telling that “happiness” would be enumerated in a document now synonymous with democracy. “I am on my own personal pursuit of happiness, and hopefully I’ll find it in the role and in the privilege I have leading this University.”
Several speakers talked less about pursuing happiness and more about finding it unexpectedly, sometimes in the worst of circumstances.
Dr. Allison Lyons recalls how a quote on a wall in a hospital helped her readjust her outlook as she endured her young son’s cancer treatments. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
Dr. Allison Lyons, a general internist and associate professor at UVA Health, told through tears about finding out her son, Colin, had a type of leukemia. The next years – which included more than 200 days in hospitals – were filled with the blessing of remission and the devastation of relapse.
“I was sitting in the playroom at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia while Colin was getting his IV chemo,” Lyons told the crowd. “And they have a quote wall. And on this quote wall was one phrase that stuck out to me. It literally said, ‘Choose happiness.’”
That glance at the wall helped reorient her, Lyons told the attendees. She and her family leaned into laughter, cherished the friends “who dropped everything to be by our side,” and sought the joy in every moment. She dialed back some of her responsibilities at UVA to spend more time with her family, plan grand vacations and revel in the smallest things, like being present when a child gets off the bus.
“The pursuit of happiness is often messy,” she said. “It is often difficult. It is often filled with landmines. But choosing happiness is also what keeps you alive.”
Sheri Winston, director of the Rotunda, shared a similar story.
A few years ago, she’d been diagnosed with a type of cancer, but her doctors believed a Christmas Eve surgery would remove all the cancer cells. A week later, Winston’s doctor called.
“She was calling to tell me that the pathology results didn’t come back as they expected,” Winston said. “She said a lot of words I didn’t understand. But then she said one word that I truly understood, which was ‘aggressive,’ and we need to get you in soon, and we need to start a treatment plan.”
Soon after her first chemotherapy treatment, she noticed her hair coming out in clumps. She expected that would happen, just not so soon. But she didn’t expect she would lose all the hair on her body.
“I had no hair in my nose,” she said. “I had no hair in my ears. … In summertime, that hair in your ears really does help with bugs flying around.”
Sheri Winston recounts the story of her chemotherapy treatments, and how she found joy in returning to work and attending family gatherings. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
She quickly returned to work, but not everyone knew her diagnosis. They thought her colorful head wraps and scarves “were just a fashion statement. I love fashion, but I also loved my hair.”
That period, returning to work and donning colorful scarves, was still a time of joy, she said. She found happiness in her job at UVA, in attending birthday parties and watching 鶹ƽ Final Exercises on the Lawn, something she hasn’t missed in 35 years. Happiness was attending a niece’s wedding, something she didn’t think she’d see after Googling the life expectancy for the cancer she had.
But like young Colin, who is again in remission, Winston has gotten better. “I’m cancer-free,” she said. Her hair is back to complement her smile, which never left.
According to Jeffrey Rosen, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center, Jefferson and the Founding Fathers considered happiness to be “a lifelong quest for character improvement” and “something to be pursued rather than obtained – a quest rather than a destination.”
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