The pursuit of happiness…..
I was doing research the other day for a different article about Racism in America, and I stumbled upon the Declaration of Independence and really started thinking about these words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Here in the U.S., happiness is not guaranteed by the Constitution; only the pursuit of happiness. And isn’t that what each and every one of us is doing all the time? Isn't that why we go to work every day? Whether it’s the approval of our parents, more money, a promotion, a new car, a new house, clothes, adventures, vacations, a new hobby/passion, sex, falling in love, getting married, having children, pets, whatever…isn’t it ultimately happiness we seek so desperately? We want happiness so badly we go into debt buying things we don't need in the endless hope they'll fill that hole in our happiness.
It occurred to me that everything we do boils down to the pursuit of happiness.
Capitalists chase ever more profit because that what makes them happy. More money. Good. Happy. Less money. Bad. Unhappy.
So I did some research into the 10 happiest countries in the world and came up with list:
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Iceland
5. Norway
6. Nertherlands
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Austria
10. Luxembourg
I was shocked! Just the other day when I was researching Socialism, I searched for the 10 most socialistic countries in the world, and came up with this list.
1. China
2. Denmark
3. Finland
4. Netherlands
5. Canada
6. Sweden
7. Norway
8. Iceland
9. New Zealand
10. Belgium
This seemed strange to me. How can it be that 7 out of 10 of the happiest countries in the World are classified as Socialist? Growing up and living in the United States, we are told and conditioned to believe that anything connected to the word "Socialism" is evil. It conjures images in our minds of the Berlin Wall, Stalin, Marx, and all manner of evil actors. How could anyone living in a Socialist country be happy? I wanted to find out.
The U.N. actually compiles a World Happiness Report. It is measured across urban and rural environments and uses six rubrics to assess happiness—levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption, and income.
One puzzling fact noted was that “Nordic countries are constantly among the happiest in the world.” (Who knows, maybe it's the snow that's causing it. I personally don't care much for snow. It makes me decidedly unhappy to be cold, and that I have to shovel the stuff.)
All I can come up with so far is this. If 7 out of the 10 happiest countries in the world are Socialist or Social Democracies, maybe the word Socialism might not be quite as bad as we've been told.
I can’t afford to fly to the Nordic countries and conduct my own research, so I’m still trying to figure this out. But it seems that these countries are what’s known as Social Democracies, defined by Wikipedia thusly: A Social democracy is a political, social and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy.
Is it possible that when you pay taxes at a rate we Americans would find onerous, but get universal healthcare, free higher education, child care, maternal/paternal leave and guaranteed paid vacations among other things, that you are happier? Say it isn’t so…..
Here's some interesting facts about the U.S. where we shun all things Socialist.
· America is the only advanced economic power that does not guarantee paid vacation time for workers.
· There is no federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States.
· At least 134 countries have laws setting the maximum length of the work week; the U.S. does not.
· The U.S. remains the only industrialized country in the world that has no legally mandated annual leave.
· Out of the world's 196 countries, the US and Papua New Guinea are the only ones that have no federally mandated policy to give new mothers paid time off. And of the world's richest 41 countries, the US is one of only 15 that does not offer any paternity leave, according to a 2019 Unicef report.
· New moms in Denmark get a total of 18 weeks of maternity leave: four weeks before the birth and 14 weeks after, all at full pay. During the 14-week period, the father can also take two consecutive weeks off.
· New parents in Sweden are entitled to 480 days of leave at 80% of their normal pay. That's on top of the 18 weeks reserved just for mothers, after which the parents can split up the time however they choose. Sweden is unique in that dads also get 90 paid paternity days of those 480 reserved just for them. The idea is to promote bonding between father and child during a time when moms are getting most of the attention.
I could go on and on and on ........ but you get the point.
I thought I was happy working 100 hours a week on two jobs just so I had a little extra money after paying the mortgage, the car payments, insurance and electric bill. I never got to see my kids as they were growing up because I was always working, but I was happy buying them stuff. They seemed happy to get the stuff.
I just worked 12 hours a day for 93 straight days and was happy to be able to pay off some bills and not fall asleep driving back and forth to work. I haven’t had a vacation since 2008. It's a good thing that working makes me happy because the whole pursuit of happiness thing seems exhausting.
I don’t think most people know what happiness is. I'm not sure my wife is happy, or my kids. The only ones I know for sure are happy are my dogs. Everytime I walk in the door, they act like I'm Brad Pitt. I'm pretty sure they know the secret to happiness.
