Seeking happiness...how have I lived today?

Happiness is an internal job. Let me share an encouraging story to elucidate what inspired me to redefine happiness in my life.
Recently, my hubby came back from an official visit to U.K. and unlike his usual anecdotes, this time, he decided to narrate a thoughtful chapter from the trip. While performing some audit procedures he got an opportunity to come in contact with a person, in-charge of the operations of the department being audited. A lot of issues were pointed out as an outcome of the routine audit process and he was told that his process was not running well. Such a verdict would have jolted a normal person beyond his/her wit's end. Strangely enough, during my hubby's 20-day tenure, he constantly found him working from home and wondered how a person, facing such a crisis, could continue working away from office. So, he suggested him coming for a visit to the site and investigating the matter personally to mitigate the process-gaps.
There was yet another problem in hand. The office in question was shutting down by mid 2007. However, amidst all the obstacles that this person was facing he was always smiling, calm, and hell bent-upon in finding a silver lining amidst the darkest clouds. Never for once did he disagree to the facts and said he enjoyed working out such details with my hubby. This sure intrigued Ari (my hubby) more and right at the end of the interview sessions he asked how he could stay so positive and cheerful knowing he might lose his job in the near future. The answer he got sure was an eye-opener for him about the way we view our priorities in life.
The man explained that he was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing a chemotherapy treatment (very painful), which is why he was unable to step out from home. Secondly, he said that he hoped that he would come back to office one day and rest aside his condition as something buried in the past. He said he was thankful for each day that he had been given to prove something better than what it is. Imagine this for someone living in the clutches of losing a job and a dear life that we consider so special, or do we?
Ari had nothing to say after what he had shared except wishing him all the best for the future(?) unknown.
Happiness is an inside job. It's we who have to change. If things don't work out fine, it's up to us to do something about it, isn't it? Only when we appreciate the life that we have been given, do we feel such happiness within. If you know that it is the last day of your life on earth how would you want to spend it? Regretting? Comparing? Blaming? Judging? The surfeit of jobs and 'prosperity' in metros make us at times high-browed, and conceited. That's being plain small. Wake up! There's more to life! Are you living it?