Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Faith in the Buddha's Awakening"

The Buddha] proved that there is a true happiness that doesn’t have to depend on conditions. It’s not touched by aging, illness, or death. And he proved that this happiness can be found through human effort. Now the effort required qualities that were not special to the Buddha, qualities that we all share to some extent, simply that he had taken those qualities and developed them to their fullness. And so what does this mean for our lives? There is that potential for true happiness and it can be found by developing qualities within the mind. This is why the beginning of the path is having faith in the Buddha’s awakening. In other words, he can do it, we can do it." ~