Happiness or Freedom?

Recently I was having a philosophical discussion with some other expats: which would you choose if you had to pick one, happiness or freedom?

It turned into a semantics debate, because really it depends on how you define happiness, and freedom for that matter. If happiness to you requires security and comfort and being surrounded by the familiar, then it's obvious that none of us (this group of expats) has chosen happiness. On the other hand, for us, remaining home and living the life that society generally expects (and understands) in many ways is not happiness. Our freedom, to explore the unknown and pursue a life that we find more satisfying (as challenging and uncomfortable and even dangerous as it may be), is our happiness. Of course this is only the beginning of the debate, as people aren't necessarily choosing between freedom and happiness, they might be pursuing power or love or any number of things.

This is part of why I love putting myself in new environments, it forces you to think about things (like your motivations in life) that it's easy to take for granted in the comfort of home. I've met several people here who seem distinctly unhappy, and through my conversations with them I've learned that they've chosen this life, despite how much they may hate it, because they are doing something they feel is important or valuable--something they think they couldn't necessarily do in an environment they would find more pleasurable. Believe it or not I found this surprising. In my mind. living in a "developing" country (where things aren't convienant--to put it mildly--and it's dirty and there is a whole new world of disease, submersed in a culture so very different from my own, where I'm forever perceived to be an ATM machine) does not equal unhappiness. Not that these things don't bother me, I hate assuming that any man who talks to me is only interested in a visa to the U.S. True my primary motivation in coming here is similar to those unhappy philanthropists: a desire to influence positive changes. But the fact is that you can do that at home (North America and Europe need just as much positive change as everyone else, it just looks different). So what else is motivating them to come and to stay?

I suppose it's part of the natural cycle of expat life and at some point I may feel the same way. I think no matter where you are or what you're doing there are always going to be highlights and drawbacks, and it's just a question of whether the highlights outweigh the drawbacks, and if the drawbacks are things you're willing to live with.