I heard a discussion recently about a survey that measured happiness and cataloged it among characteristics like sex, age, race, religion, politics, location. The panelists each leapt to their favorite category and declared the new statistics confirmed their own biases. What really struck me, though, was that all the speakers seemed to be a fairly unhappy lot.
I’m not a big fan of academic studies. They can be useful for technical information, and for explanations of herd behaviors. But I’m not a big fan of herds, either. The real value of research isn’t to understand the herd, but to understand how that applies to me. We’re all individuals, and should always try to exceed the herd. Remember that half the people we meet are below average. When we raise ourselves to above average status, it not only improves ourselves, but raises the average. If you don’t want to excel for yourself, do it for humanity!
But I looked for the referenced study to satisfy my curiosity more than to learn what characteristics might make that average person happier. I found a recent article in The Atlantic magazine by Arthur Brooks. It’s a good article, by an interesting writer. He’s a social scientist and economist, recently the president of American Enterprise Institute. He left AEI to focus on happiness, and is now a columnist for The Atlantic. In addition to many pearls of wisdom, this article includes a link to the General Social Survey, an ongoing survey of happiness by University of Chicago since 1972. Since our society seems to be considerably less happy these days, either the survey is doing something wrong, or nobody is paying attention.
I’m the happiest person I know, which I used to attribute to being simple minded, but have since decided probably has other factors, as well. Brooks notes that the American Declaration of Independence promises that pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right, not happiness itself. Whether we find the unique version of happiness we pursue is up to us. A lot of people seem uninterested in even pursuing their own happiness, instead replacing it with more destructive emotions. Those destructive people can impede our happiness, so achieving our own happiness really requires two things: we need to pursue our own happiness and to encourage others to pursue it as well.
Brooks says happiness is a combination of enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning. He emphasizes meaning. And he attributes the decline in happiness to a societal loss of meaning. This seems pretty obvious, but the drivers for that loss elude many people.
Religious practice
Marriage rates
Fewer close friends
Workforce participation
These are all expressions of love and solidarity with others. Without them, we become prey for “moral predators - people who offer us fear and hatred instead of love.” And they have all been in sharp decline. We need to consider them for ourselves, and encourage them for others.
Brooks offers some solutions:
Share your meaning. Speak up. Get involved.
Reject identity politics. It only matters to those with a grudge.
Love your country. He cites George Washington, “Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections.”
Brooks concludes by saying we need good leaders. That’s desirable, of course, but he overlooks the reality that leaders are a construct of the people. Bad people produce bad leaders. They don’t usually perceive themselves as bad people, and they like to imagine that they were as much a victim of bad leaders as those who preferred aanother. They can’t accept that their bad leaders, and their own unhappiness, are their own choice.
Good leadership is like happiness — something we all pursue. Some find them, many don't. It requires good people doing good things. As Brooks concludes, “Goodness isn’t for weak people. It’s not easy or soft. It is difficult, and as hard as granite.”
If we pursue goodness, we’re more likely to find happiness.
I hope you’ll make time you read the article, and Brooks’ other works. His lessons can benefit everyone.
Lots of good ideas in this piece. But here's a thought: stop grasping around for human leaders.
Each act of kindness sends a ripple of goodness out into the world. Many acts of kindness send a wave out into the world. Just one act of kindness a day by everyone could indeed change the world over time. It did not get this bad overnight so it will take time and effort to change it, please do not stop believing it can be done. That is when all is lost.