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Hippos: The Happy Animal
Feb 5, 2008 | Lucas
I was approached by a friend earlier today who asked me whether there was an animal that represented happiness. The first thing that came to my mind was the hippopotamus. Why is it a happy animal?
Well, quite honestly, if I were a hippo I would be pretty happy. You spend all day swimming in the water or grazing in the field if you get bored of it. You don't really have to worry about your safety since you are essentially the most powerful animal in town and nobody wants to eat you.
However, my friend still questioned the validity of my answer: "So in a picture of some random sad kid, if I put in a random hippo, it'll signify happiness?" This is where it gets a bit tricky and I have to introduce the concept of "passive happiness". The hippopotamus is passively happy. It's sort of like the "I'm happy, but I am in total control of myself and my emotions so I cannot show them to anyone else and still be happy" kind of happy.
You see, the hippo has a high internal locus of control, and that is precisely what makes it a passively happy animal. It understands that it controls its own destiny and truly knows the power it has.
(On a somewhat unrelated note, I stumbled upon an interesting defensive chess opening called the Hippopotamus Defence which results in a very passive game style. Note the very interesting pawn structure as well as the placement of the bishops and knights in the first image.)
