The pictures document the unbelievable human plight of thousands of Africans fleeing Goma for refugee camps this week. It also documents the convening of the U.N. to discuss a solution when their biggest peacekeeping force in the entire world, 17,000 strong, isn’t enough in this central african nation.

What can I do? I can’t make anyone put down their grenade launcher, I can’t hash out a ceasefire and I definitely can’t talk to the leader of the Congolese army or rebel general Laurent Nkunda.  My emotions seem to have no answer because guns will fire still fire, and bellies will still ache for food, and there will still be death, regardless of the depths of my feelings.

Do you ever find yourself feeling completely helpless about world conflict? What do you do with what you read, the pictures you see and the emotions you feel?

Image credit: cyclopser

Take Joe Ades. He’s 74, works 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, on a street corner in New York. Doing what? Peddling potato peelers for 5 bucks a pop. Alright, so the guy works hard into his old age doing something average, if not a little bit peculiar. But here’s the gold: he lives on Park Avenue, one of the richest spots in the world. His walls are adorned with art, his former maid’s room is now for peeler storage, and his three young granddaughters college educations are more than paid for. Over the decades as a street salesman, he’s proved that slow and steady wins the race.

Born in Manchester, England during the second world war, he learned the tricks of the trade from peddlers who made their business on top of the bomb rubble. He’s been doing it ever since, getting up before the sun, donning a $1,000 suit and bringing his stock to the streets.

It’s an incredible story, but in an interview with MSNBC, what stole my attention was a statement he made about happiness.

“I think that’s the secret of happiness. Not doing what you like, but liking what you do.”

If you were to ask me if I want to spend several decades selling potato peelers on the street, chances are good I’d say ‘no way’. But Ades doesn’t see it that way

What do you think of Ades’ take on happiness? Do you do what you like or like what you do?