[Applause]
[Music]
so I’m mr. Raskin and arrestin and today
I will be talking about pursuit of
happiness and where you can find it so I
graduated from Los Altos high school in
2005 I started working here about two
years ago and I’ve been loving it ever
since the main reason we’re talking
today is about happiness so these are
the four main chemicals that actually
induce happiness within you serotonin
endorphins dopamine oxytocin pretty
boring stuff a lot of hard science
that’s not my jam
but what is interesting is the erotic
treadmill this is something that affects
every single person in this room you’ve
all had it you’ve all dealt with it
every day of your life but you might not
have known what it was what it is is you
have a constant state of happiness
always level every single person no
matter what or who you are you always
have a constant state of happiness what
happens though is say you get a good
grade on test that happiness goes up but
like always it returns
shortly after same thing we get in a
fight with your parents goes down got
grounded not happy but after a day or
two returns back to happiness more
things can happen
hit the lottery that’s probably gonna be
a lot higher right or end up having a
disease or car accident or something get
hurt but like always you return to
happiness so the main point of my story
is about me and my pursuit for happiness
and where I found it so we’re gonna
start with this the mind is its own
place and in itself can make heaven of
Hell and Hell of heaven this is from
Paradise Lost John Milton bunch of your
English teachers probably really liked
this book and probably recommend it it’s
a pretty good little dry but good points
the reason I bring this a quote up is
because right after Los Altos high
school I graduated went to University of
Colorado last year was ranked happiest
city in America also last year ranked
49th of the most beautiful colleges in
America also on their ranked seventh for
parting probably I did a little too much
of that but when I got here I was
miserable
I didn’t know what to do I was lost I
had been going to school my whole life
like most of you since I can even
remember every year going to school
summer grind in grind out but I wasn’t
happy I was studying architecture here
always loved the art but when I got
there I wasn’t fulfilled I was lost and
I was miserable and I had no choice I
wanted to do something else and I
couldn’t figure out what it was I needed
up leaving Colorado after one year
searching trying to find what would make
me happy and the one thing that has
always made me proud and happy is being
an American and always life liberty and
the pursuit of happiness
and the pursuit of happiness is what’s
key so what I decided to do is join the
military look how happy I am
sergeant Raskin you never saw him that
happy if you saw me coming you’re going
to get yelled at real real bad so join
the military awesome time got to go all
over the world I actually got to be a
geospatial intelligence analyst doesn’t
make much sense I also did ground moving
target indication but what does that
mean I was a spy for the US government
I had a t SSDI clearance that’s the
highest clearance the US government Kiev
that’s same level the president the FBI
had to investigate my friends my family
they came to my house they talked to my
mom they talked to my dad they wanted to
know who I was and if I was going to
ever reveal the secrets that our
government had I was really good at my
job
this was my workspace this is what is
considered asked if it is a building
that is a safe there are no windows most
of times underground my first TV
location I was in Korea I spent about a
year underground for stories in a
mountain fighting communism so much fun
if you think your eyes hurt after
reading a book try to be
in this darkness and only looking at
computer screens for twelve to fourteen
hours a day four days on three days off
there was about a year there that I did
not get to see the Sun I got it to work
when it was just coming up State twelve
hours inside no windows get out when it
was already dark that will mess with
your head so some of the stuff I was
working on this is geospatial
intelligence this coming off the u2 spy
satellite Global Hawk Reaper all those
got to work with them all I was also a
part of multiple strikes on the enemy I
worked with UAVs non-stop doing route
clearing raids with Special Forces
ingress egress routes and also planning
for high-value target next thing I was
doing was ground moving target
indication looks pretty boring it was
all I did every day was just stare at
dots I ended up getting the nickname neo
because all I would do is stare at dots
and I could just discern between a car
motorcycle plane anything just by a dot
how fast it was going where was going I
could determine it all I was really
really good at my job and there’s a
problem with that a flash of fear makes
you extra vigilant for additional
threats you look at the world through a
filter that interprets and big use
events as possible dangers a flash of
danger towards someone raises a filter
through which you see everything the
offending person says or does as further
insult or transit aggression the reason
I bring this up is when I went in the
military I was excited to be part of
something bigger I wanted to help my
country I felt like I needed to but
after eight years of fighting and seven
wars that I was involved in I was mad I
was angry all I was doing was putting
hate and aggression out in the world I
wasn’t helping I was hurting and it
continued to play on my head why was I
doing this if it was still not making me
happy then came along BAE Systems most
of you guys probably have never heard of
this place we have Lockheed Martin most
you guys were that Boeing they make
almost every plane you’ve probably been
on and Raytheon
the reason why you probably haven’t
heard of bae systems is because it’s an
intelligence group they only do they
mainly specifically deal with
intelligence intelligence gathering
these guys were gonna offer me $200,000
annually every year and if you know
anything about teacher pay that’s a lot
more but why did I why am I here and not
at BAE Systems the money would have been
great right happiness you can you can
buy happiness with money but only to a
certain point at about eighty thousand
dollars that dips no because that is at
the moment where you don’t have to worry
about rent you don’t have to worry about
clothes you don’t have to worry about
food but other than that no level of
happiness after two hundred thousand
dollars no happiness comes from money
its baseline because you can’t buy
anything that fills a hole so I was
sitting there I was gonna get a lot of
money do a job that I’m great at that
people said was important but it wasn’t
gonna make me happy so what happened
empathy
one of the most powerful things our
species has feeling what other people’s
feel and lucky enough camp diversity
while I was in the military my lovely
mother was that your guys assistant
principal she would ask me to come help
volunteer because she knew I was upset
about what I was doing the military that
I was good at it but it didn’t make me
feel whole so I started volunteering I’d
take time out from mission I would take
leave come down here and work with kids
and it was there that I finally felt
complete that I felt like I was actually
helping the world and I wasn’t hurting
anyone I was making people feel better I
wasn’t putting aggression into the world
as making people happy and then this
both Decius this guy is pretty crazy
this dude was a console of what was the
former Rome and the Empire he was one of
the most powerful people on the planet
he was ungodly rich he had a powerful
family his two sons were commanders in
the former Roman Empire
but what happened he got arrested for
treason in prison all his fortune taken
all his power taken and he was told he
was going to be killed within one year
that would pretty much bummed me out
right not a good way to start your day
and this guy very popular philosophy
destitute crying wailing so upset that
his life had turned so poorly but during
that time idiotic Ted Mele being super
powerful super rich being told you’re
going to die not a good set
but eventually returned to his happiness
resting point by realizing that nothing
is miserable unless you think so and on
the other hand nothing brings you
through this system
he realized that no matter what in his
life
it was his view of it that would give
him either power and strength and
happiness or make him mad you can go
through a day where you get in a
argument with your parents it makes you
miserable super upset when you leave
that area you might encounter another
person and still be upset about that and
then you get mad at them because
everything’s going on but you need to be
able to stop take a break take a step
back and realize that you control your
emotions you won’t ever be able to
control the world around you but you can
control how you view the world what we
are today comes from our thoughts of
yesterday and our present thoughts build
our life of tomorrow our life is a
creation of our own mind within you you
have the power to be happy or sad angry
or content it’s all how you view the
world if you get cut off driving to
school you don’t get angry but what what
determined that person to do that thing
or did they get in a fight with their
spouse earlier today are they late for
important meeting did their kid just
throw up in the backseat of their car
you don’t know so you can either choose
to be angry about that
choose to let that go and realize that
life’s tough things are going to go bad
things are going to go good but how you
react to them is how you change the
world you’re in and I will leave you
with this events in the world affect us
only through our interpretations of them
so if we can control our interpretations
we can control our world you guys have
the power and you have the ability right
now to change the world around you and
you can do that starting right now by
taking a second every day center
yourself and realize that nothing is
permanent everything will come and go as
it pleases but you are the one thing
that matters and the one thing that can
change everything else thank you
[Applause] you