“Dad, what is happiness?” Sadil innocently asked his father, Noor Ahmed.

“Happiness is our mental state. When we feel mentally satisfied, then a feeling arises inside us. That is happiness. Why are you asking this?” Noor Ahmad enquired with a smile.

“I would like to buy happiness and share it with others, because my teacher had told me we should share more happiness,” Sadil responded with an excitement.

“Sadil, you are totally right, but happiness is priceless, you can’t buy it. You should strive to share and spread happiness.

And when you make someone content, then he or she is bound to remember you fondly and will also make you happy at some point in life,” Noor Ahmed suggested seriously.

“I will go to play now,” Sadil said as he picked up his bat and went outside.

The next day at school, Sadil began spreading happiness among other children by making them laugh and entertaining them with jokes.

All of them were made happy by Sadil and he got satisfaction in it. Sadil realised that sharing happiness increased it because he was feeling very happy.

“Good afternoon mum and dad,” Sadil greeted his parents after coming back from school that day.

“Good afternoon dear,” his parents greeted him back. “Go change your uniform, wash your hands then come and have lunch!” his mother commanded him .

“Our son is innocent and honest, he was asking me how one shares happiness,” Noor Ahmed told his wife.

After lunch, they sat and started chatting. Sadil told them about his day at the school and what fun it was. His parents were very proud of their son.

One day Sadil missed his school bus after school was over and got stuck there. When he didn’t arrive home on the usual time, his parents became worried. They called his school van driver and the school. No one knew where Sadil was. They frantically called everyone they could think of while his father even went to the school, but returned disappointed.

Just then the door bell rang and Sadil stood outside with a strange man. His parents hugged him and asked where he had been.

“Sorry mum, I missed my school bus. This is my classmate Bilal’s father. When Bilal saw that I had missed my bus, he took me home in his van and asked his father to drop me home. This is why we got late.”

Sadil’s parents thanked Bilal’s father for bringing Sadil home safely.

“No need to thank me. Sadil is also like my son, and he is such a good-natured child that my son loves him dearly. I am so happy to have been of some help to him,” Ali’s father replied.

Sadil and his parents realised that this was the reward for Sadil’s habit of spreading and sharing happiness.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 4th, 2017