A person can be truly happy no matter what others may think of him or her. Of course, in a society which puts such a high premium on being liked, approved, accepted and admired by others, to be happy despite not being liked requires much dedication to living according to other, higher values and principles. The highest value or principle is life is service to others in the name of truth, as exemplified by the life and work of Socrates. One might say that truth is all that Socrates served, but if that were so, then Socrates could have simply stayed at home and studied the truth by himself. Instead, he served both the truth and others by dedicating his life to teaching others how to work their way through layers of lies and deception until the truth of a matter was revealed.
At the heart of his happiness was also a humility, a knowledge that there was much that he did not know and that it was his calling in life to teach other people that they also did not know very much and should stop pretending that they did. As long as he followed that calling, even unto death by poison, he would be happy.
Even if one agrees with this basic proposition, it must first be determined that Socrates was indeed happy. And before that, one must define happiness. For purposes of this paper, happiness is equated not with a smile or a fleeting pleasant feeling but with a much deeper and more continuous peace of mind and spirit. Happiness is the sense that one is doing the right thing and is willing to keep doing it regardless of the consequences.
Socrates certainly possessed such a peace and such a happiness, as evidenced by his words in Apology and elsewhere. He was willing to die for the truth, and refused to escape as his friends urged him to do. He accepted his death penalty willingly, in good spirits and with no malice toward his executors, because he saw that death as a confirmation of the life he had lived. To flee would have given him a long...