Speaker 1: Life audio of today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: Now, I have a topic today which inverts, reverses exactly.
Speaker 2: It doesn't undo, it's just reverses everything I always say
Speaker 2: about how we have a moral obligation to be happy,
Speaker 2: right because happy people do more good. Now I'm going
Speaker 2: to turn it all the way around one hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty degrees and tell you that the opposite is also true,
Speaker 2: that good people are more happy.
Speaker 1: That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours
Speaker 1: of Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs, and to
Speaker 1: purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to Dennisprager dot com.
Speaker 2: You have no idea? How many of you write to
Speaker 2: me that I should sing no idea? People stop me
Speaker 2: in the street. I'm not kidding, And I say this
Speaker 2: in Alan's presence.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: It's the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. And
Speaker 2: I welcome you special Welcome to Tom t All Right. Here
Speaker 2: we go, Come on, Sean, here we go. Everybody. Alan,
Speaker 2: don't listen.
Speaker 3: It's the happy, happy, Happy, happy Hour. Yes, it is
Speaker 3: it's the happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Hour. Hi everybody, it's
Speaker 3: the Happiness Hour. Every week at this time, come hella,
Speaker 3: high water, whatever it might be. We devote an hour
Speaker 3: every week at this time to the subject of happiness.
Speaker 3: Because happy people make the world better, and because we
Speaker 3: have a moral obligation to be happy, we owe it
Speaker 3: to everyone in our lives.
Speaker 2: Our spouse is, our children, our parents, our friends, our
Speaker 2: co workers, the person we sit next to on an airplane.
Speaker 2: You ever sit next to a person on the plane
Speaker 2: who was sour or it's not a fun trip, And
Speaker 2: that's a total stranger. And that's just a couple of hours.
Speaker 2: So imagine somebody you have to live with or be
Speaker 2: related to. Yeah, it's a very big subject. That's huge.
Speaker 2: Now I have a topic today which inverts, reverses exactly.
Speaker 2: It doesn't undo, it's just reverses everything I always say
Speaker 2: about how we have a moral obligation to be happy, right,
Speaker 2: because happy people do more good. Now I'm going to
Speaker 2: turn it all the way around one hundred and eighty
Speaker 2: degrees and tell you that the opposite is also true,
Speaker 2: that good people are more happy. How do you like that?
Speaker 2: I want you to call me if you know mean
Speaker 2: spirited people and think they're happy, and I'll bet I
Speaker 2: don't get many calls because when you think think about
Speaker 2: the people in your life, you tend I mean the
Speaker 2: people you know best, whether it is at the office
Speaker 2: or whether it is relative a relative. I won't say friend,
Speaker 2: because if you have a mean spirited friend, you have
Speaker 2: a very strange choice and friends, so I excluded that.
Speaker 2: But folks, it should be self evident on a moment's
Speaker 2: notice that the kinder folks that you know tend to
Speaker 2: be the happier folks, and certainly, even more clearly, the
Speaker 2: mean spirited ones are less happy. So how do you
Speaker 2: like that? Not only do happy people do more good,
Speaker 2: the people who do more good, and I don't mean
Speaker 2: do more good on a macro level. See that's a
Speaker 2: very interesting thing. In other words, they have joined a
Speaker 2: wonderful organization that raises funds for for cancer research. As
Speaker 2: much as I'm for that and support it, of course
Speaker 2: I am, and that is a factor in a person's goodness.
Speaker 2: But I'm now talking about daily relations, where in daily
Speaker 2: relations in the micro realm, in the personal realm, the
Speaker 2: people who are less mean spirited are usually the ones
Speaker 2: who are happier. Now there's a question of which comes first,
Speaker 2: the chicken or the egg. Is it that they're happier
Speaker 2: and therefore they are more good, or they are doing
Speaker 2: more good they are kinder and therefore they are more happy,
Speaker 2: And the answer is both both are true. In other words,
Speaker 2: goodness and happiness feed each other. The happy do more good,
Speaker 2: and the good are more happy. How do you like that? One?
Speaker 2: Eight Praeger seven seven six is the number one eight
Speaker 2: p r a Ger seven seven six. That's something for
Speaker 2: people to think about when they think about how they
Speaker 2: treat other people. All there is really a selfish in
Speaker 2: the best sense of selfish component to treating people well.
Speaker 2: How do you like that? You think you're being selfish
Speaker 2: when you're selfish, and you are. But the truth is
Speaker 2: that if you were really concerned with how much happiness
Speaker 2: you will have in life, you wouldn't be so selfish.
Speaker 2: You would treat people better. You would could be care
Speaker 2: about people more as a rule. As a rule, there
Speaker 2: are many exceptions to this rule, but as a rule,
Speaker 2: you get treated back the way you treat people, and
Speaker 2: that will increase your happiness by and large. If you
Speaker 2: treat people decently, if you will be treated decently. And
Speaker 2: if you think that you are going through life getting
Speaker 2: shafted by everybody that you know, you are the kind
Speaker 2: one and everybody is just treating you miserably, there is
Speaker 2: something probably a little wrong in your perception. Probably it
Speaker 2: is possible that you are the victim of nearly everybody
Speaker 2: you know, but it is most unlikely. So I am
Speaker 2: giving you today the notion that you will be happier
Speaker 2: if you treat people better talking about you will be
Speaker 2: happier if you go on a twenty six k walk
Speaker 2: for breast cancer or AIDS. That may well be too.
Speaker 2: I am all for macro goodness, absolutely, but I am
Speaker 2: now talking about the way in which we treat people
Speaker 2: in our individual life, not the not the large macro values.
Speaker 2: So here's my question. Do you agree that good people
Speaker 2: are happier? That's my question one eight Prager seven seven
Speaker 2: six or do you would you say? You know what, Dennis,
Speaker 2: there is really no correlation. Unfortunately, a lot of selfish
Speaker 2: people are happy. A lot of people who treat others
Speaker 2: not so great, they're happy. That has not been my
Speaker 2: experience in life that by and large, the people who
Speaker 2: treat other people well are happier they get they get back,
Speaker 2: and I'll get to tell you the biggest reward, you
Speaker 2: know what, the biggest reward of goodness friends, that's the
Speaker 2: biggest reward. The mean spirited do not have friends. They
Speaker 2: have acquaintances. They have they have friends in the sense of,
Speaker 2: you know, people that they could visit perhaps or go
Speaker 2: to the movies with. But uh mm mmmmm, it doesn't
Speaker 2: work because why would you Why would anybody really be
Speaker 2: able to trust you? If you're not good and without trust,
Speaker 2: there really isn't friendship. Let's be honest. One eight Praguer
Speaker 2: seven seven six one eight p R A G E
Speaker 2: R seven seven six is the phone number, and let's
Speaker 2: go to some of your calls here on this. Do
Speaker 2: you believe that the kind to people are happier? Or
Speaker 2: am I talking an ideal a sort of fantasy world.
Speaker 2: We begin in Chicago and Dave, Hello, Dave, Dennis Prager.
Speaker 4: Hi, Denni's a long time listener, first time call it
Speaker 4: a pleasure to speak with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: I just wanted to say. I think happiness is a choice.
Speaker 4: And when you decide to put your treasure in someone
Speaker 4: or something, your heart is going to incline towards that.
Speaker 4: For example, I've been married ten years. In there times
Speaker 4: where maybe the spark is not there, but if out
Speaker 4: of a decision of the will that I want that
Speaker 4: to change, I decide I'm going to bring my wife
Speaker 4: flowers once a week for a month or something like that,
Speaker 4: my heart begins to incline more towards her. And that's
Speaker 4: a result of the decision I made to act right.
Speaker 2: I totally agree with you. I'm a big behaviorist. My
Speaker 2: motto in my lectures is the deed shapes the heart
Speaker 2: far more than the heart shapes the deed.
Speaker 4: I agree. I'm a Christian, and it comes right out
Speaker 4: of the Sermon of the Mount where Jesus says where
Speaker 4: your treasure is, or your heart will be also right.
Speaker 2: So here's the question here is how does this relate
Speaker 2: though to my subject that if you're the more good
Speaker 2: you are, the happier you will be.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's you asked about the chicken in
Speaker 4: the egg. I don't think that good deeds come out
Speaker 4: of being happy.
Speaker 2: All they do. They do, though, they don't only come
Speaker 2: out of being happy. But to Dave, let's be let's
Speaker 2: talk real. Most people when something very good happens in
Speaker 2: their lives, are far more inclined to treat people well
Speaker 2: than when they are unhappy. Right, Okay, all right, So
Speaker 2: that's what I'm saying. You see that it's very important
Speaker 2: to be real, folks, very important. We sometimes and I'm
Speaker 2: not saying Dave did this at all, but sometimes religious
Speaker 2: people and I am religious, so I have no problem
Speaker 2: in saying this. Sometimes religious people will will cite versus
Speaker 2: and cite doctrines and cite beliefs, and they're all legitimate,
Speaker 2: but they somehow don't think that you can be fully
Speaker 2: human at the same time and look at reality, and
Speaker 2: the reality is that happy people, not just religious people,
Speaker 2: but happy people will do more good. And not all
Speaker 2: religious people do more good. There are unhappy religious people.
Speaker 2: I've talked about that a number of times. In fact,
Speaker 2: I don't know if I've talked about that recently. We
Speaker 2: ought to do that one more time another time, But
Speaker 2: right now I'm telling you, folks, and it's worth telling
Speaker 2: your kids this. If they want to be happy, they
Speaker 2: have a much better chance if they treat people well
Speaker 2: than if they don't. Much better chance, in fact, the
Speaker 2: other way is impossible. The happiness hour, and the Dennis
Speaker 2: Prager Show continues.
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. There is the
Speaker 2: Happiness Hour. I begin almost every Happiness Hour by telling
Speaker 2: you that the happy people do more good. And now
Speaker 2: I'm telling you that the more good you are, the
Speaker 2: happier you will be. They are both interrelated because a
Speaker 2: lot of people wonder, gee, why do these bad people
Speaker 2: have it good? That is one of the oldest questions
Speaker 2: in humanity, from the book of Joe Bond. Why do
Speaker 2: bad people prosper? Well? They may prosper in some ways,
Speaker 2: but the are they happier in your life? That's my question,
Speaker 2: not not looking at the newspaper, in your life, among
Speaker 2: people you know best. Do you believe that the people
Speaker 2: who are the most mean spirited towards others are just
Speaker 2: as likely to be happy as the people who are
Speaker 2: kind toward others. That's my question to you. That's the
Speaker 2: best way to ascertain, not in general, but from the
Speaker 2: basis on the people you know one eight Prager seven
Speaker 2: seven six and in Irvine, California, Hugh. Hello, Hugh, Dennis Prager,
Speaker 2: Hi Dennis.
Speaker 5: I love your show. You're the greatest unknown professor I've ever.
Speaker 2: Had, the greatest you don't you meannown unknown in the
Speaker 2: sense that you don't know me exactly? Okay, fine, okay?
Speaker 5: Is this I used to be a probably twelve step
Speaker 5: and as you know, you've probably heard of this, they
Speaker 5: had the whole sacanty and make it philosophy, which you
Speaker 5: know I do agree with a certain degree, But then
Speaker 5: I've had a lot of and also Christian. I have
Speaker 5: a lot of Christian friends that they're cool twelve step,
Speaker 5: but they also say, you know, you don't want to
Speaker 5: be like a whitewash tune, like one of the Pharisees,
Speaker 5: you know that's all clear on the outside but full
Speaker 5: of dead men's bones and desolation on the inside. So
Speaker 5: there they have also emphasized you you need to work
Speaker 5: clean yourself out on the inside and then it'll sort
Speaker 5: of shape your outside behavior. And it's just one of
Speaker 5: the things that's kind of kept me up at night sometimes,
Speaker 5: you know, before I go to sleep, like is there
Speaker 5: a more right way?
Speaker 2: This is a terrific question, terrific and I and I
Speaker 2: will be totally candid with you. This is one of
Speaker 2: those areas where and I am, you know, one of
Speaker 2: the biggest defenders and advocates of of of the Christian
Speaker 2: American that that exists today. My life is devoted to
Speaker 2: Judeo Christian values. But this particular idea is not my idea.
Speaker 2: I agree with the twelve step program more than I
Speaker 2: do with many of your fellow Christians on this matter, don't.
Speaker 2: I don't even understand how how one goes about cleaning
Speaker 2: one's insides fully because we're God didn't make us saints.
Speaker 2: He made us human and our and inside of us
Speaker 2: is a whole host of conflicting emotions, desires, lusts, et cetera.
Speaker 2: And I am much more interested. And I think I
Speaker 2: think God is. People say God God measures the heart,
Speaker 2: and I agree with that. I think God does judge
Speaker 2: the heart. But the heart of the person who was
Speaker 2: wilfully doing good is a good heart. You see, the
Speaker 2: very fact that you have decided to treat others well before,
Speaker 2: so to speak, cleaning up your insides shows that your
Speaker 2: insides are already very good. The very fact that you
Speaker 2: want to do good, What does that say about your heart? Very?
Speaker 5: Very Yeah? Very well put.
Speaker 2: Thank you, okay, thank you? Boy? Am I happy you called?
Speaker 2: I mean, I get that a lot from from religious folks,
Speaker 2: especially Christians. To be precise here about you know this,
Speaker 2: laying awake, lying, lying awake, asleep, lying asleep. Boy, that's
Speaker 2: pretty bad lying asleep, I tell you, lying awake at
Speaker 2: night and not being able to fall asleep, whether metaphorically
Speaker 2: or literally, because they know that they're they're not pure inside.
Speaker 2: There's no such thing as pure inside. It doesn't exist.
Speaker 2: It's the issue is our behavior and the very fact
Speaker 2: you see when when when Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees,
Speaker 2: it wasn't over they're acting ethically and having impure insides.
Speaker 2: It was their acting ritually and having impure you were insides.
Speaker 2: That's the difference. Jesus never said, look all the kind
Speaker 2: things that you're doing, but I know inside it you
Speaker 2: know you're not You're not kind. No, never, it's a misunderstanding,
Speaker 2: and and and and it certainly and he certainly didn't
Speaker 2: apply to all Pharisees. I mean that too is important.
Speaker 2: But yes, there is there is an element of ritualistic
Speaker 2: observance in religion that is not accompanied by goodness, and
Speaker 2: it is disgusting, and it was. And Jesus was not
Speaker 2: the first Jew to say that. Isaiah spoke, who I
Speaker 2: don't need your sacrifices. If you're not good people, you
Speaker 2: can keep your sacrifices. In other words, keep your rituals.
Speaker 2: But never ever, ever think that your insides are more
Speaker 2: important than your than your ethical, decent behavior. Never, not
Speaker 2: in God's eyes, not in human's eyes. And I'm glad
Speaker 2: that was raised, because a lot of people are confused
Speaker 2: on that matter. And again, doesn't it show how good
Speaker 2: your insides are that you do want to act good? Well,
Speaker 2: what does it say about you that you do fight
Speaker 2: your other parts? You will never, as humans have a
Speaker 2: pure inside, never never, And some of the very best
Speaker 2: people on earth have a particularly impure inside which they
Speaker 2: know that they have to fight. In fact, there's a
Speaker 2: famous Hebrew saying that the bigger the righteous man, the
Speaker 2: bigger his will to do bad. That a person who
Speaker 2: has no will to do bad is less likely to
Speaker 2: be a particularly good person. All right, one eighth Prager
Speaker 2: seven seven six. Return to this matter of Remember, this
Speaker 2: is the happiness hour, is not a theological hour. But
Speaker 2: I'll take you I take anything. That's fine. And if
Speaker 2: you feel there's a conflict, as you just heard, then
Speaker 2: call in. I don't believe there's a conflict. I believe
Speaker 2: that the best religion wants us to be happy, that
Speaker 2: God wants us to be happy. In fact, I think
Speaker 2: God considers it an insult if you walk around unhappy,
Speaker 2: especially if you appear to be religious. So I go
Speaker 2: back to my the thesis of this particular happiness hour.
Speaker 2: Just as the happy do more good, those who do
Speaker 2: more good are more likely to be happy. And people
Speaker 2: don't think that all the time because they often think
Speaker 2: that the bad are prospering. Ah, all right, let's go
Speaker 2: too Alrighty Beaverton, Oregon and Gregory. Hello, Gregory, Dennis Prager,
Speaker 2: Hi there.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm really glad to get on. It's a
Speaker 6: great topic. And I think people who love people are
Speaker 6: by definition happier.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's certainly true, isn't that really?
Speaker 6: What you're saying, we're being nice and doing good is
Speaker 6: a way of expressing love and a way of loving people,
Speaker 6: and then you get more energy back and there's that
Speaker 6: great balance of give and take that kind of engages
Speaker 6: in like, oh this feels good. So I'm going to
Speaker 6: do it more and what I'm doing is a benefit
Speaker 6: to others, and then I'm getting back something that's a
Speaker 6: benefit to me, which is more energy.
Speaker 2: And that's right, that's right.
Speaker 6: You're on the same page, so, you know, because it's
Speaker 6: the network of relationships that we build in our lives
Speaker 6: that really determine a lot of our happiness. When we
Speaker 6: think of a favorite vacation spot or a favorite town
Speaker 6: a city that we've lived in, then what we're really
Speaker 6: usually thinking of is the nature of the relationship.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the people that we were with are the people
Speaker 2: that we love. That's exactly right. Anyway, goodness generally brings
Speaker 2: back goodness to you. And you know what, and if
Speaker 2: it doesn't, so it doesn't, so you'll be hurt by somebody. Okay,
Speaker 2: better than wearing an armored suit back in a moment.
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: All everything.
Speaker 7: Too, Yeah, that's right, if you win it tongues, And
Speaker 7: I would like to know if this song alan touches
Speaker 7: someone in his or her twenties as it does those
Speaker 7: of us who are older.
Speaker 2: I really I'm wondering if I mean, this precedes our
Speaker 2: generation too. I mean, you know, he was not singing
Speaker 2: when I was listening to music. But I do wonder
Speaker 2: if it's generational.
Speaker 8: I don't think it's so much generational. I think though,
Speaker 8: you have to have some experience in life, you have
Speaker 8: to sort of have seen a lot of things. There's
Speaker 8: something about Jimmy Duranty that when you get a little
Speaker 8: bit older, there's a tone in.
Speaker 2: His voice of that's right, the bitter sweet, Yeah.
Speaker 8: The bittersweet, and you don't have a sense of bittersweet
Speaker 8: until all right.
Speaker 2: That's a good point. So it's not a matter of
Speaker 2: what you were raised with. It's literally a matter of experience.
Speaker 8: That's what I would say.
Speaker 2: You're probably right one, Ad Prager seven seven six. This
Speaker 2: is the happiness hour. I am making the point that
Speaker 2: isn't made often enough, and that is the one that
Speaker 2: I make that's almost never made, that happy people do
Speaker 2: more good that I make every week. But I am
Speaker 2: now just reversing it that the people who do more
Speaker 2: good are also happier, and I am. And that's why
Speaker 2: that call earlier was so important. And forgive me, I
Speaker 2: just forgot do you remember the man's name. That was
Speaker 2: such a good and important call, and I treasure I'd
Speaker 2: really treasure that call because he was so honest. I am,
Speaker 2: my friends, a huge behaviorist, and I'll put this down
Speaker 2: for a future happiness hour. I believe that behavior is
Speaker 2: more important than feelings. I don't believe that always. In
Speaker 2: other words, I don't believe that. For example, in purely
Speaker 2: religious ritual there I believe that the intent and the
Speaker 2: is also critical. But in daily life, with behavior toward humans,
Speaker 2: there's no question behavior is more important than feelings. Of course,
Speaker 2: do I care? Do I care whether or not the
Speaker 2: vast majority of people or you care? Okay, forget me,
Speaker 2: but do any of you care whether the vast majority
Speaker 2: of people you meet in daily life love you? Know
Speaker 2: you care about how they treat you. I don't expect
Speaker 2: the waiter to love me. I expect the waiter to
Speaker 2: treat me nicely. That's what matters to me. Behavior is
Speaker 2: so important. That's why people have lost this. This has
Speaker 2: been lost completely. That's why people say it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: how you dress when you go to church, that behavior
Speaker 2: is irrelevant. All that matters is that you are there,
Speaker 2: that you have a religious heart. That you are thinking
Speaker 2: about God. God doesn't care how you dress. That we
Speaker 2: live in an anti behaviorist age where it's all your intention,
Speaker 2: not your behavior that matters. But I believe that casual
Speaker 2: dress going to church in shorts and a tank top
Speaker 2: reflects some something inside of you, because you wouldn't do
Speaker 2: that at the Academy Awards, would you. So what you're
Speaker 2: saying is that you will treat actors and actresses better
Speaker 2: then you will treat a house of God. That's what
Speaker 2: you're saying. So I don't even I judge people by
Speaker 2: their behavior period and of issue. And so that's my
Speaker 2: argument is even if you have selfish and who doesn't
Speaker 2: selfish desires, and even if you have impure insights, act good, act,
Speaker 2: treat people in your life nicely, you will be happier.
Speaker 2: That's my argument. Don't wait for a change of heart,
Speaker 2: don't alrighty, go to some of your calls here one
Speaker 2: eight prager seven seven six is eight seven seven two
Speaker 2: four to three triple seven six John in Chicago, Hi, Hi, Dennis, Hi, Hi, I.
Speaker 9: Just wanted to tell you that that song you were
Speaker 9: just playing, I'm twenty three years old and I was
Speaker 9: just thinking as it was playing what a great song?
Speaker 2: You know, I was listening to the Well there you go,
Speaker 2: isn't that nice? Twenty three year old loves it. We
Speaker 2: got to get him the name. Where could he find
Speaker 2: that well? I'll let you know as soon as we
Speaker 2: come back, because we we let people know where the
Speaker 2: music is wrong. We'll be back in a moment. You're
Speaker 2: listening to the Dennis Prager Show. All right, maybe happiness
Speaker 2: are on the Dennis Prager Show. Happy people make the
Speaker 2: world more good, and the people who act more good
Speaker 2: are happier. So I'm talking about part two here that
Speaker 2: those of you who think that the mean and the
Speaker 2: selfish prosper and the good they they get their losers,
Speaker 2: or they they lose out in the happiness sweepstakes. You're wrong.
Speaker 2: They may make less money. I'll acknowledge that. I don't
Speaker 2: say that if you are good you will make more money.
Speaker 2: I say you will be happier one aid Praguer seven
Speaker 2: seven six And let's go. So we're gonna now where
Speaker 2: does this so the Jimmy Duranty song the young man
Speaker 2: in the Chicago wanted to know what what what you
Speaker 2: give me? I'll announce it on the air or what
Speaker 2: that's so fine it for me. I'll announce it all right,
Speaker 2: let's go two?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 2: Is it eta? I'm sorry? Isla in Los Angeles. Dennis
Speaker 2: Praguer high Hi.
Speaker 10: I think that both can It can go both ways.
Speaker 10: You know, people are kind, do the good, ads good
Speaker 10: to do good deeds, but that sometimes also doing good
Speaker 10: deeds can make somebody more kind. And there was actually
Speaker 10: a study where they took prisoners and they gave animals,
Speaker 10: and they were to care for the animals, and through
Speaker 10: caring for them, they actually learned some of them for
Speaker 10: the first time to actually care for another living being,
Speaker 10: and they became more kind because of that, and there
Speaker 10: were less behavioral problems with them as well. I think
Speaker 10: it can go both ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. And that's a behavioristic point. In other words,
Speaker 2: they started to act good and so they became better. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's right, we're talking happiness. But that's absolutely accurate. By
Speaker 2: the way, I will say that, it is my general
Speaker 2: belief that the treatment of animal issue goes more the
Speaker 2: other way. That people who are cruel to animals will
Speaker 2: be cruel to people. I find that to be truer
Speaker 2: than people who are good to animals will be good
Speaker 2: to people. But I think in the specific case of inmates,
Speaker 2: having to take care of a of an animal may
Speaker 2: may help them become more orderly and and you know
Speaker 2: all the good things that we want from an inmate.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm prepared to believe that. I thank you, Ila,
Speaker 2: and let's go to oak Brook, Illinois and Chris Chris
Speaker 2: Dennis Prager High.
Speaker 9: Hi, Dennis. I do work for mother Treesa's nuns here
Speaker 9: in the city.
Speaker 2: Oh well, they do a suit.
Speaker 9: Kitchen, they want a shelter for unwed mothers. He's nuns
Speaker 9: and me, I'll take them to the eye doctor or whatever.
Speaker 9: You're around them. They're constantly smiling, but it's genuine. It's
Speaker 9: not you know, an artificial smile. It's a genuine smile.
Speaker 9: And they're constantly sacrificing and helping other people in the
Speaker 9: inner city. And it's it's like you get more out
Speaker 9: of going there and being around these nuns. Yeah, and
Speaker 9: they get from you helping them.
Speaker 2: I believe that. I'm beyond believe that. I am sure
Speaker 2: you are right talking specifically about nuns. I remember being
Speaker 2: in Phoenix. I have this on video because it remember
Speaker 2: I don't know some of you who really follow my
Speaker 2: show will recall I had a New Year's resolution for
Speaker 2: two thousand and five to make a video diary of
Speaker 2: my ear and I pretty much kept it up. And
Speaker 2: I took there for my video on my lectures around
Speaker 2: the country, and one of them was in Phoenix and
Speaker 2: it was at a synagogue and there were nuns who came.
Speaker 2: And these nuns afterwards at the reception after the talk,
Speaker 2: they did it. They they this was the Nuns order
Speaker 2: responsible for the plaques at the Grand Canyon, that those
Speaker 2: little plaques from that had verses from Psalms, How great
Speaker 2: are Thy work? So Lord, for example? And I fought
Speaker 2: for those plaques after the ACLU in you know, the
Speaker 2: ACLU was an entire division to find anything that smacks
Speaker 2: of Judeo Christian values to remove them from the public sphere.
Speaker 2: This is this The ACLU considers this a virtue to
Speaker 2: do that. It's twisted, but that is that is their view.
Speaker 2: America would be better without that plaque, that little plaque
Speaker 2: at the Grand Canyon. It's a better country. And I
Speaker 2: fought for those and they got them back with the
Speaker 2: help of my friends like Senator Blendeu in the Arizona legislature.
Speaker 2: We got a back there. So they came and these
Speaker 2: nuns did a dance around me, and they just radiated
Speaker 2: joy of life. They just did, and I feel that
Speaker 2: way within. That's a Christian example. I give you a
Speaker 2: Jewish example, the kabbad rabbis around America who have their
Speaker 2: rabbad houses in virtually every city in the country. And
Speaker 2: the distinguishing feature of them is their happiness, is their
Speaker 2: joyful personality. Now do they ever go to bed worried
Speaker 2: or depressed? They may, Well, I'm talking to you though,
Speaker 2: about their demeanor, and I think it has a deep effect.
Speaker 2: I know it has a deep effect on others. I
Speaker 2: think it has a deep effect on themselves. Where is
Speaker 2: the verse? You should just serve, serve the Lord and happiness.
Speaker 2: Serve God and happiness. Is it from the psalms you
Speaker 2: do with chembassy, Because that's that's what I read. I
Speaker 2: don't remember where it's from anyway, It's it's a it's
Speaker 2: a great great it's a great point. Unhappy religious people.
Speaker 2: You know what I say to unhappy religious people is
Speaker 2: what I say to them, Please get happy, because you
Speaker 2: give God and your religion a bad name. But if
Speaker 2: you can't get happy. Please stop being religious because it's
Speaker 2: a disservice. Josh Monument, Colorado. Dennis Prager, Hi, how are.
Speaker 11: You, Dennis?
Speaker 2: Good? Thanks?
Speaker 11: I just string that that song from Jamie Durante. I'm
Speaker 11: twenty five, and I guess uh, I guess Alan was
Speaker 11: talking about how it's more of a life experience experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 11: Well, in my case, I think it's more the values
Speaker 11: I was raised with, because the values from that song
Speaker 11: in the period were very different from the values and
Speaker 11: songs of now.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just wow, when you're twenty five and
Speaker 2: saying that. By the way, are you saying that Alan
Speaker 2: was wrong?
Speaker 11: Not wrong?
Speaker 2: But that's good because he's very hurt. Tell I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: all right, I'll tell them, I'll tell them anyway. Oh by,
Speaker 2: it's Sleepless in Seattle. That's it, the soundtrack Alan and
Speaker 2: Josh and everybody listening. That is one of my five
Speaker 2: Desert Island discs. The Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack, one great
Speaker 2: love song after another, including the Jimmy Duranty. All right,
Speaker 2: we'll be back in a moment final segment of the
Speaker 2: Happiness there if you want to get in one, Aid
Speaker 2: Prager seven seven six.
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: All right, everybody, final segment of this edition of The
Speaker 2: Happiness Hour. Don't let anybody fool you into thinking that
Speaker 2: the bad are happier the selfish. It's not true. They
Speaker 2: may make more money for a while. After all, crooks
Speaker 2: will do better for a while. It's just the nature
Speaker 2: of things. And the selfish may prevail in other ways.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what they don't have. They don't
Speaker 2: have close friends. And you can't be happy without close friends.
Speaker 2: That's definitional, my friends. So my argument this hour is
Speaker 2: not only the happy people do more good, but the
Speaker 2: people who do more good. And I don't mean just macro,
Speaker 2: I mean primarily even micro in rtherwards interpersonal relationship good.
Speaker 2: A lot of people have unfortunately substituted macro idealism for
Speaker 2: personal decency and that's a big problem. Alrighty, let's go
Speaker 2: to David in Chicago. David Dennis Prager.
Speaker 12: Hi, all right, Dennis, I just wanted to comment on Well,
Speaker 12: you made a comment about it's more important to be
Speaker 12: do nice things and that would change you on the inside. Yes,
Speaker 12: And I I just in a way I understand what
Speaker 12: you're saying. As far as when you do good things,
Speaker 12: it makes other people happier, and.
Speaker 2: It makes you and it makes and it changes your
Speaker 2: insides too.
Speaker 12: Well, that's where I'm kind of I kind of disagree
Speaker 12: because with the nuns, they do good things and and
Speaker 12: made the other guy happy, and that's understandable because they
Speaker 12: have something that he was missing in a way. Maybe
Speaker 12: possibly for some people. But I think if you're dealing
Speaker 12: with things on the inside, these things that make you unhappy,
Speaker 12: then they need to be addressed first, whether it's repentance
Speaker 12: or just recognizing it and trying to turn from it.
Speaker 2: And uh, well, how can you repent without changing your behavior?
Speaker 12: Well, that that's what I think. If you try to
Speaker 12: just change your behavior, then it kind of in a
Speaker 12: lot of people's lives, they live a double life. They
Speaker 12: look like someone on the outside, but then when they
Speaker 12: go home at night and they have immoral problems or
Speaker 12: they have just other self esteem problems, whatever it is,
Speaker 12: that's still there.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but but it doesn't negate the good that
Speaker 2: they have done. What would you rather them do? Continue
Speaker 2: to do bad? During the day.
Speaker 9: No.
Speaker 12: I mean, for example, if someone's struggling with immorality, like
Speaker 12: what then like, like.
Speaker 2: What struggling with?
Speaker 9: What?
Speaker 2: Everybody struggles with immorality? What are you referring to?
Speaker 12: Okay, say someone is struggling with I don't know, or
Speaker 12: say someone struggling with pornography, Yeah, okay, and it's making them.
Speaker 12: That's their way of satisfying their needs, right, and so
Speaker 12: they do that. But they then when it's all over
Speaker 12: and done, they're still just as sad and unhappy as before.
Speaker 12: And going and doing something nice from somebody doesn't take
Speaker 12: that problem away.
Speaker 2: It doesn't take that problem away, but it takes other
Speaker 2: problems away, and it still will increase their happiness. I
Speaker 2: am not I always say, folks, I'm not for producing saints.
Speaker 2: I'm for producing better people. By the way, Jerry and
Speaker 2: Longbach I wish he was Jimmy Duranty's mail man and
Speaker 2: said he lived the message of the song. Now, folks,
Speaker 2: call in on anything you want.
Speaker 1: On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Tora.
Speaker 13: Now you have to understand something here. I'd like to
Speaker 13: point out a very important thing here. If your brother
Speaker 13: came with this dream to you would you answer him
Speaker 13: and say, hey, do.
Speaker 14: You intend to rain over us? You and your other siblings?
Speaker 13: You'd say, what kind of pompous idiocy? Go go back
Speaker 13: to sleep and dream your ego centric dreams that have
Speaker 13: a nice night.
Speaker 14: Right, But can you be disturbed? They're disturbed.
Speaker 13: They don't make fun of him, They don't make fun
Speaker 13: of the dream.
Speaker 14: The problem here is the problem of the Jews. Historically.
Speaker 1: Come back tomorrow for Dennis Prager's signature series. In the
Speaker 1: first five books of the Bible, Dennis teaches the Torah.
Speaker 1: This has been timeless wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit Dennisprager
Speaker 1: dot com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses
Speaker 1: in classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.
Speaker 1: We want to take just a second to thank the
Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
Speaker 1: the podcast. Go to lifeaudio dot com to find dozens
Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts and their network, including shows
Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.