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Jewish World Review Nov. 27, 2006 / 6 Kislev, 5767 Happy, happy, happy! By Tom Purcell
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Happy? What do you mean am I happy?
I read two interesting articles on happiness last week. Both suggest that Americans are struggling with the concept.
Are you nuts? Who could be happier than Americans?
According to a Reuters article, young people in the developing world are. They're twice as likely to feel happy about their lives as young people in rich countries are — rich countries such as America.
How the heck could that be?
Young people in developing countries are optimistic about their future, whereas young people in rich countries are worried about their future. They feel tremendous pressure to succeed.
Pressure to succeed?
Yes, it's an interesting phenomenon in rich countries. In a CNN article, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert discussed it. He said longing for bigger, better and more does not make us happy.
But longing for bigger, better and more is the American way!
Gilbert pointed out — and other studies have confirmed it — that once a person's general material needs are met, more money doesn't bring more happiness. Once you earn $50,000 a year, on average, more income doesn't make you happier.
I don't buy it.
An interesting choice of words. If you love your work and are well paid for it, that is one thing — money is nice to have. But too many Americans are working harder solely to get more stuff, and stuff doesn't make us happy.
Then what the heck does?
Well, according to a Pew Research Center survey, marriage makes us happy. Did you know that married people are happier than singles? Marriage is healthy — especially for men. Married men earn more and live longer.
You obviously haven't met my wife.
Other findings are equally interesting. People who are religious are happier than those who aren't. That makes good sense to me.
How so?
Well, embracing religion means you are trying to understand and align yourself with something larger than yourself, a greater truth. You're trying to live an honest life, trying to do good and avoid doing bad. The process of being religious helps a man escape himself — to be kind, to sacrifice for others. One of the byproducts of living this way is happiness.
If you say so. What else have you got?
People with college degrees are happier than those without a college degree. In a service economy, such as America, it's clear that college graduates have lots more job opportunities and security than those who do not.
I designed my college degree to ensure I'd find work. I was the only person to ever graduate from my school with a major in business and a minor in air conditioning/heating.
And people who live in America's Sunbelt cities are happier than Americans living in other places. The warm, sunny climates certainly do affect people's moods and the economies tend to be doing better in Sunbelt cities than in Rustbelt cities.
Yeah, but you can't get a decent corned beef sandwich down South, and fewer things make me happier than that. So tell me more about happy people.
Did you know that Republicans are happier than Democrats? And that both are happier than independents? This probably has to do with the fact that Republicans tend to be more religious than the other two groups and are also more likely to marry — two key factors that contribute to happiness.
Yeah, and I'll bet Republicans have more dough than Democrats and independents combined! That would make me happier.
Haven't you been paying attention? Money doesn't make us happy. Bigger, better and more don't make us happy.
Yeah, I've been paying attention and you make some good points. But on the subject of happiness, I'm going to have to defer to a great philosopher, my Uncle Earl: If you're going to be miserable anyhow, you might as well be rich.
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© 2006, Tom Purcell |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
