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I haven't read the article yet, but this is why being "content" never seems that descriptive to me. It doesn't describe the situation in which one finds themselves, it's a statement on their reaction. Some people always fight, some people throw a fit like a child, etc. Some people are content.

It's essential to find a source of contentedness in life, but it can be easily manipulated to become complacency. Are these kids content about being content?

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Are we ever really content? Even if we were to increase our own happiness, we would still live in a world where, outside our walls, the suffering persists. Could we really, perfectly be happy, knowing?

If the answer is no, then to be happy, we must pass through hell with the rest of them.

There are fleeting states of being content that do actually happen. It's up to each person in their own way to find out (or ignore) that those states are just a product of their imagination.

What matters, is what you do when you've passed through hell and seen it for what it is.

This is why humans succeed. We're just never content, there's always something to complain about, to improve. It's always been that way, and it's always been the case that the vast majority left it at complaining and the actual change or progress was initiated by a few individuals.

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