<p>Are people too serious?</p>
<p>The conviction that people ought to be more flippant to succeed is a widely-held assumption among certain circles. Unfortunately, such a belief is not only downright false and untrue, but also egregiously misleading and flagrantly wrong. Instead, most people should make an effort not to be less serious, but to be more serious. After all, being less serious carries serious repercussions, but opting to be more serious can often be conducive to success. Two episodes from my life as a member of the Zantigan tribe in Africa serve as compelling examples of this universal truth.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, trying to be less serious can cause utter failure in striving for a goal that might otherwise be achieved. For example, my father was called Zenta, after one of our great tribal leaders, and was heavily criticized for being far too serious. He undertook every action with a stern expression, utterly unsmiling and unwilling to laugh. After a visitor from the United States slighted him for being a “grumpy old man,” however, my father finally resolved to be less serious, even in serious matters. For instance, when representatives from a local logging company arrived with ridiculous plans to cut down a third of the forest near which we live in, my father laughed with them, as though to approve of their plan, even when he truly wanted to scream in their faces. As a result, the representatives were unfortunately led to believe that such an undertaking would be no big deal if even the tribal leader of the Zantigans did not immediately reject it. We lost much of our homeland to tractors and axes. If my father had resolved to be firm and candid, we would not have been forced to move because of the destruction of our homes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, being serious can even lead to both social and economic progress for a society. My father’s affair occurred over twenty years ago, but today a representative called Fillard Horowitz represents us in our home African country of Ceraria’s Congress. Fillard Horowitz is a celebrated man for us, but not for many others. Fillard has been known to be firm and unwavering in crusade for our tribe against various oppressors from elsewhere in the country, who are convinced we are up to no good. He heavily criticized the president when the president proposed to relocate us to a far away location, and he published numerous articles in Time magazine explaining our cause and our dying way of life. When his best friend and former colleague, Johnathon Berkeley, from a different part of the country, wrote a bill that, if implemented, would essentially wipe a third of us off the face of the earth, Horowitz stood directly in his way, and, instead off trying to convince him through good-natureness and jest, said to his face, “therefore, you are proposing genocide.” His sternness shook the Congress, but the effect if what he does for us is clearly evident; after all, we are not dead yet, and we continue to thrive as a people. If Horowitz had not been so serious, people might have been convinced that he was a silly man, not someone to lead progress and hope for all Cerarians alike.</p>
<p>In conclusion, my life in the Zantigan tribe has convinced me that the ability to be serious is valuable, and to opt not to be serious is seriously disastrous indeed. In fact, to prove this point, you need only look at any famous elected official. Do you see any of them dancing around in careless banter, merrymaking when there are great laws to pass?</p>