Anna’s dream was to have children. Yet it seems that this might not be possible. This reality is difficult for her to accept and she looks for ways of even partially easing her deep sorrow. She knows that every morning the nearby park is full of mothers with their children. She goes out thinking that at least she might be able to play with the children. So, spends the whole morning with the little kids. She tells them stories, makes them laugh and some of them confide in her with their small problems. This morning makes her happy, very happy. She goes home thinking of how lovely the day has been. But when she puts the key into the lock of the front door she remembers her sorrow––she will never be able to have kids. She falls once more in a deep depression. And this is not the first time that this has happened to her!
Beatrice has the same problem as Anna with the same desire to have kids––a lot of kids. She likewise goes out with the idea of playing with the kids in the park. Up to now, one could say that we are looking at identical situations. Yet, when she gets to the street her thoughts are different: “Maybe today I might be a bigger help than yesterday.” In fact, Beatrice for many months tries to help the mothers, giving them a bit of rest, freeing them even for a small while of their daily labor. Beatrice is very capable, though perhaps not as much as Anna. When she gets home, tired, she is very happy––she was able to be useful once again.
Now, of these two stories, which would you say is better, which one is perfect? Can we say that they are the same? What is the difference in these situations? The personal problem is the same (both are unable to have children), the action is the same (they go to the park and play with the children of the other moms), and the external result is identical (the mothers are happy with the help received). The only difference we see is in their personal interiority. In the first case, Anna is fundamentally looking for a way to satisfy her own need, at least, by being with other’s children. Indirectly, then, Anna loves these children and tries to be of help. The good that Anna is pursuing (to be happy) is used up in a couple of hours. She is only pursuing, then, personal satisfaction. Beatrice, on the other hand, is primarily trying to alleviate the mothers’ work in the park. Her good therefore endures, for she is pursuing the good of others.
The example helps show us two things. One woman is happy when she pursues the good. Both Anna and Beatrice seek the good (meeting the children in the park) and thereby find happiness (playing with kids, seeing them smile). So first they pursue this, and then once they reach the objective they are rendered content (they are in possession of that good). Really, one could add that they are already happy as they pursue the objective (when they decide to make a trip to the park) in that there is present the hope to possess it. When does happiness vanish? When one loses the good she seeks. Anna tried to play with children. Once she gets home she realizes they are not there and that she will never have kids. She then loses hope. Beatrice, too, reaches her good, though on a the contrary does not lose it as Anna does (remember, her good is to help the other mothers). Her good transcends her person, and her particular good (the possibility of playing with the children of the other mothers in the park) is at the service of the more general good (helping others).
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