Don’t Be Happy, Worry!

Don’t Be Happy, Worry!

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

Ok, this is hard blog to write when so many people, particularly our fearful leaders, delight in making masses of people miserable. “I’m right, and you’re wrong” seems unavoidable where divide and conquer is the American philosophy du jour. Ooops, I used a foreign word… how un-American of me. The Germans have a word for delighting in the misery of others (they would, wouldn’t they?), but it also has been coopted to English: schadenfreude. Another foreign word! But I began thinking of how Americans measure their success. Start with Gross Domestic Product? But the rich at the top of the food chain can make the whole picture look rosy.

How about the stock market as an index of American wellbeing? After all, over 60% of American families own stock. But those with significant holdings tend to be rich and white. “Ownership of stock is concentrated among those with higher incomes. That is hardly a surprise as investing in stocks or mutual funds requires money. Some 92% of those in the top 10% of the income ladder owned stock in 2019 compared to 56% of those considered middle class. When it comes to owning stocks directly, families in the top 10% of earnings accounted for 44% compared to only 12% of the middle class and 5% of those in the bottom quintile.

“Looking at net worth rather than income, a total of 94% of those whose net worth placed them in the top 10% of wealth distribution owned stocks in 2019. Of families whose net worth was in the bottom 25%, 21% owned stock in some form… Families in the top 10% of incomes held 70% of the value of all stocks in 2019, with a median portfolio of $432,000.” USA Today (5/15/21). We don’t care about these metrics: job security, vacation time, working hours, healthcare, per capita income, mental health, infant mortality… what?! And current administration policies are good at jiggering with statistics. Like, did you know that the government has stopped measuring Tesla battery fires. I wonder why?

By all these hard dollar metrics, the United States is a wild success. But even before the spew of executive orders and the threat from rich fat cats, seeking even more tax cuts, intent on crushing retirement and health benefits under Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – in a world where the United States is an outlier among developed countries where universal healthcare is standard – Americans numbered among the least happy developed nations on earth, falling even below a number of less-developed countries.

So, the White House-excluded Associated Press, with writers in Europe (Kirsten Grieshaber and Kostya Manenkov), reported in its Marth 20th edition, on the relative “happiness” quotient across nations around the world. Using surveys from average citizens applying their own national cultural vision of happiness, wealth seldom seemed determinative, as it seems to be here. Finland, freezing cold and sharing a border with avaricious Russia, came in first. The United States hit its lowest point since this EU-based survey has been conducted, at a sad 24th. If anything, we are living in an increasingly lonely world where more people feel cut off from support and viable social contacts.

“Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network… ‘Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,’ said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. ‘If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.’… Sharing meals and having somebody to count on.

“Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said… Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.

“As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population… Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found… Alexandra Peth, a managing director, said Finnish culture prioritizes trust and connection. ‘People trust each other in Finland and I think on many levels in the society, we try to support each other,’ Peth said. ‘So I think the system makes it kind of that you can trust it somehow.’

“Overall, researchers said that global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.

“The U.S. falls to its lowest-ever position in the happiness ranking… While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at sixth and 10th respectively.

“When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness — the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades… Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult… Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking third from the bottom.

“Almost one-fifth of young adults globally have no social support… In a concerning development, the study said that 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.” Large countries fare badly, as do people living within governance by narrow-minded autocrats. That the United States is profoundly heterogeneous may complicate how we might truly measure happiness. Still, since a vast majority of those in Congress don’t give a rat’s posterior about average citizen happiness, with a President who loves to hide, deny, manipulate and bury any metrics that reflect badly on him, I suspect that average citizen happiness is the last thing on his mind.

The one biblical mandate (New Testament) that Americans struggle with is dealt with in Mark 12 (NT Mark 12:28–34): “One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked Him,

"Which commandment is the first of all?"

Jesus answered,

"The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.'" When many of us in the United States elect to ignore, hate and marginalize many of the rest of us, the US happiness quotient tanked. In slightly over a decade, the US happiness ranking has fallen 13 places. From happy and trusting to miserable, untrusting… and alone. Maybe finishing that border wall can change that?! Huh? Where did all those religious Christians go?

I’m Peter Dekom, and even if we rewrote the above to “You shall tolerate and respect thy neighbor,” we would at least be taking a giant step in the right direction.