While under fire during the height of the Vietnam War, Marine Corporal Scott Harrison got through those dark days thanks in no small part to a vision he had, of a carousel in a mountain meadow. Years later, he bought a broken-down carousel, and made his vision a reality.

Nederland

Scott Harrison, a former Marine corporal who served during the Vietnam War, found solace in a music box sent by his sister, which inspired vivid visions of a peaceful carousel in a mountain meadow. After struggling with PTSD and various attempts to cope after returning home, Harrison decided to bring his vision to life by purchasing and restoring a broken-down carousel, carving new animals for it over 26 years.

Now located in Nederland, Colorado, the Carousel of Happiness operates as a nonprofit and has brought joy to over a million visitors. Harrison credits the project with helping him heal and shift his focus from self-treatment to providing happiness for others, illustrating the transformative power of compassion.

The Carousel of Happiness

Steve Hartman this morning introduces us to a man who's truly come full circle. During the height of the Vietnam War, if you were stationed here at Marine Outpost Khan Thien, it was like a death sentence. Emergency medevac, ASAP! Was there a worse place you could have been? Not then. It just seemed like a matter of time for everybody. Scott Harrison, then a 19-year-old corporal, says he got through those dark days, thanks in no small part to a music box like this one. His sister sent it to him, and during breaks in the fighting, he used to hold it tight to his ear. And I would close my eyes, and I would think of a carousel in a mountain meadow. A carousel in a mountain meadow. An image totally opposite of where people are trying to kill each other. And it was always the same image? Yeah. Over and over? Yeah. Scott says that delicate tinkling of a simpler time lowered his adrenaline and tempered the brutality. Eventually, he was wounded, evacuated, and reintegrated into civilian life. Scott left Vietnam in 1968, but the war never left him. He battled PTSD with alcohol, tried living alone on a boat in the ocean, but nothing worked. And that's when he circled back to that carousel vision, that one he conjured so long ago. I thought that if I could start actually making that vision come true, it would keep me on an even keel and make me happier. So he bought a broken-down carousel and for the next 26 years, carved brand-new animals for it. Today, here in Nederland, Colorado, in a mountain valley just like the one he envisioned, you'll find a carousel like none you've ever seen. The Carousel of Happiness is a nonprofit, and over the past 15 years, it has delighted more than a million people and profoundly changed at least one. Just to go to that carousel and see everybody having such a great time is good medicine for me. Because I started out trying to treat myself, and then it just changed into something that I can do for others. The healing power of compassion. It's what makes the world go round.

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Breakdown