Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find that I am always so tense and wrapped up in day to day activities just to make end's meet and secure myself and my child's future.

I find that most of the White people that I meet however have this carefree happy go lucky personality/attitude about life.

How come you all are able to be so happy most of the time?

Is there anything that I can do in my own life to be happy like you?

I think black people look happy most of the time!!! They also seem to be more relaxed about life.

Not the ones on metro.

Are people supposed to look happy on their daily commute? Serious question. Where I live, everyone on the train has a fairly neutral expression unless they're chatting with someone else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find that I am always so tense and wrapped up in day to day activities just to make end's meet and secure myself and my child's future.

I find that most of the White people that I meet however have this carefree happy go lucky personality/attitude about life.

How come you all are able to be so happy most of the time?

Is there anything that I can do in my own life to be happy like you?

I think black people look happy most of the time!!! They also seem to be more relaxed about life.

Not the ones on metro.

Anonymous wrote:I find that I am always so tense and wrapped up in day to day activities just to make end's meet and secure myself and my child's future.

I find that most of the White people that I meet however have this carefree happy go lucky personality/attitude about life.

How come you all are able to be so happy most of the time?

Is there anything that I can do in my own life to be happy like you?

I think black people look happy most of the time!!! They also seem to be more relaxed about life.

All those crazy pills, of course!!

Anonymous wrote:I find that I am always so tense and wrapped up in day to day activities just to make end's meet and secure myself and my child's future.

I find that most of the White people that I meet however have this carefree happy go lucky personality/attitude about life.

How come you all are able to be so happy most of the time?

Is there anything that I can do in my own life to be happy like you?

We can generally be assured of a soft landing no matter what happens to us.

We get second, third and even fourth chances.

We get the benefit of the doubt.

We get community service instead of probation, probation instead of time, and time instead of the death penalty.

We qualify for loans even when we shouldn't.

And so on. Life is just better if you're white in America. It's not fair, but it is what it is.

My ancestry is mixed, but I identify as AA. Here's my take on what OP says she observed:
My predominantly AA family has successes and challenges just like anyone else. We were taught to see them challenges as a bump on the road not a derailment. I generally get a lot of family support when something bad happens. We "laugh so we don't cry."This side of the family also includes Irish ancestry and people of other races/ethnicities who have married in so I can't say that these are strictly AA approaches to life. However, I have noticed most of my AA friends tend to have the same outlook on life. Sh*t happens, but it doesn't matter unless you let it stop you.
My Cuban family tends to be melodramatic and approach life with suspicion until good fortune is confirmed. There is a lot of family support when bad things happen, but there is also a lot of blaming the victim (if only he/she had done x instead) and "I told you so"s. Shame is a huge part of failure and too many failures will get you labeled a disgrace to the family. I can't extrapolate this to other Hispanic families; most of the Latinos I meet here in the DMV tended to be optimists --maybe because they have already overcome many obstacles just to get to where they are now.