when someone says, "happiness is a choice",
i become sick.
when someone says, "happiness is a choice",
i hear a lie.
when someone says, "happiness is a choice",
i hear indifference and apathy.
when someone says to me, "happiness is a choice",
i hear someone robbing me of emotion.
i hear someone spreading ignorance.
when i hear someone say, "happiness is a choice"
i see a wagging finger in my face,
scolding me for not choosing to see
the sacred choice through their eyes.
for not believing where they say happiness resides.
when i hear someone say, "happiness is a choice",
i hear some hollow hashtag, quoted by some tv celebrity or
some quote you'd read that is
attached to some nifty quasi transcendental graphic,
appropriated from an eastern philosophy
made for western eyes.
i feel no substance when someone says to me,
"happiness is a choice".
my mind becomes filled with judgement
of you and your life
when you say to me,
"happiness is a choice".

when someone says to me that "happiness is a choice",
i feel the need to write something like this.

happiness can be felt
but you will not feel it forever.
sadness can be felt,
but you will not feel it forever.
if you feel no regret in life,
i will call you pathetic
if you only choose to be happy,
i will call you mad.

but and however

if you choose to love,
you will be all things.
if you choose to love,
you will feel the world and all it has to offer.
sometimes you will be happy  because  love brought you there
sometimes you will be sad  but  love brought you there
sometimes you will be excited and  love brought you there
sometimes you will be angry but  love brought you there
whatever emotion you feel, consequently,
will be a product of and from love
every choice you make
will be from love

so

when you say to me, "happiness is a choice",
do not say those words in passing
or use them as a phrase
make sure to say them with your love
and be happy that you can