Today's Thought - Happiness

+++FYI - Next up at Faith Forum is Humane PA/Freedom Center For Animal Life-Saving-Reading. Lauren Henderson Pignetti, Director of Development, will be with us to talk about all the great work this organization does and how one can support that work. Hope you will join us on Sunday November 24 at 9 am in the Heritage Room. Contact Betsy Majewski at?[email protected]?with any questions.

?I was watching 60 Minutes on Sunday night, and they did this really adorable piece about Bhutan, a small nation in the Himalayas, just to the north of Bangladesh. The focus was on their culture of happiness. Bhutan was cut off from the world until the 1970's and didn't have television until 1999 - which may be one reason they were so happy - and the question being asked was why this was, and why so many people are leaving this supposed Kingdom of Happiness. I want to deal with the first part. It isn't that they walk around with dopey smiles all day long, and they aren't laughing constantly. They also live in fear of India and China, the two behemoths they are snuggled between. They work hard, believing in economic growth and sustainability, but at the center of their happiness, it seems, is a sense of balance. People matter. And every five years, they survey the population about their lives. Then, if possible, they address the areas where they are missing the mark.

The United States is ranked 23rd in Happiest Countries in the World 2024; in this particular survey, by the way, Bhutan gets an honorable mention - Finland is first. And while 23rd isn't terrible, I, for one, would think we would rank higher. I wonder why there are so many unhappy people in this country and in the world. Are you happy? I don't mean walking around giddy; that seems unsustainable to me. And I don't mean that you always wake up smiling, ready to sing and dance all day long. What defines happiness to you? What would you need to feel happier?

In their groundbreaking book, The Spirit Level (Wilkinson and Pickett), the authors compared US states and nations, and one of their key findings was this: the greater the economic disparity between rich and poor, the more unhappy that state or nation is. It doesn't matter if everyone has a lot, like Finland, or not so much, like Afghanistan; what matters is parity. In many of the most unhappy countries and states, those at the bottom were angry that they weren't paid well and couldn't afford basic needs, like childcare, while the richest lived in fear that they would lose what they had. And most studies I have seen about money tell us that there is a correlation between money and happiness, to a point. There is a tipping point at which personal wealth no longer satisfies.

I consider myself to be a happy person, and I hope you are too. That doesn't mean I don't rail against windmills or have bad days; it means that my life is filled with lots of opportunities to make a difference, and I have family and friends I love. I hope you are happy, and if you aren't, I hope you find ways to change that reality. Because life is good, even when life is hard.

Prayer - God, teach us true happiness in the service of You and others, so that lives might be blessed by us. Amen.

Today's art is "Art of Happiness" by Mucha Kichidza.

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