who doesn't like a happy ending?

At 5 years old, I stand in front of the TV, entranced.

It's the final scenes of the movie and I watch as the music swells, the screen glows, and the camera pans to zoom in on the Cinderella and Prince Charming's two, smiling faces. Finally, the credits roll, and as I sit back, I can't help but feel lighter than air. Like anything can happen - even a "happily ever after." 

This is the scene most of us think of when we hear the words "happy ending." Our pictures of happy endings are overshadowed with the tint of childhood memories so that we've come to view happy endings as an extension of childhood naivete and simplistic, but unrealistic thinking. 

And so, we smile at our screens with nostalgia, but also with a bit of smug arrogance - that now that we are semi-grown up, we have overcome the happy ending. Indeed, we are immune to its powers. Yes we sigh and dream for a second or two, but at the end of the day, we see right through the flaws of the narrative. We've become smarter, more practical, more adult. 

And yet, is it possible that we've simply traded one happy ending for the next? 

As much as we'd like to think that we've matured and have traded Cinderella for Oedipus, in reality, the promise of a happy ending has simply changed forms. 

We apply for college - wistfully dreaming of ripping open the acceptance letter to that one dream school. The words "Harvard University" almost glow in our mind - this is the place where we'll achieve our dreams, grow, and even change the world. This is our one ticket to success. 

maybe instead of Harvard we should all be like Rihanna

A happy ending, wrapped in the adult trappings of elitism and intellectualism. 

Yum.

Or maybe, it's not Harvard for you. Maybe you've always dreamed of living in the city - of going to New York, or Chicago, or London or Paris. In the city, you'll live a life of shiny skyscrapers and glowing lights - each day, you'll meet new fascinating people. As a high powered businessperson or lawyer, you'll traipse through the city, from one important meeting to the next.

alternative option: be like michael scott

But maybe, the city's not for you either. Rather, you picture yourself as a humanitarian. Working at a nonprofit - you see yourself, arriving to work each day with a smile on your face, knowing that you are making a difference. 

With each of these examples, the promise of a happy ending - the simple arc of a rags to riches story - reigns supreme. Whether your happy ending involves the promise of success, excitement, or purpose, whether or not, we realize it, we all have our versions of "happily ever after" - however unrealistic they may actually be. 

And.... that's not a bad thing. Far from naive, our happy endings serve one important function: they keep us hoping. Dreaming. Reaching. Rather than childish, the fact that we still have our own happy endings demonstrate a type of determined resilience - a level of brave hope against a world that keeps on telling us we can't or we shouldn't. Will all our dreams and happy endings come true? Probably not. But even in the process of dreaming, we're learning and growing - and that's all we can really ask for.