Yesterday, I attended the Capitol Fourth concert and fireworks display on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It was hot and sweaty and crowded and long (we arrived 3 hours early and had to wait for the concert to begin) and absolutely fabulous.

But, it got me thinking about how rare it is that we get to express joy in public. We are so busy going about our everyday tasks. In public we are focused, busy, intense, exhausted, sometimes annoyed or even outraged. But rarely do we let people see that we are joyful.

The headlining act last night was the Beach Boys. As soon as they started singing "Surfin' Safari," people sitting behind me broke out the beach balls and a spirited beach ball volleyball game began across the whole section. Some groups stood up to dance. But most folks just sat and listened. If you looked around, most people weren't even smiling.

Is being happy such a bad thing? Are we too sophisticated to express the joy we find in our lives? Are we so busy planning our lives that we forget to live them?

Just some things to think about.