I was going over a poll the other day. They came up with a list of happy nations. The top three included Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland. I was surprised that the United States of America wasn’t even in the top 10. So I thought: well, as a Dutch person I must have made a very stupid mistake by moving to a country that isn’t even in the top 100. Thailand, the Land of Smiles is obviously not happy. And the weather is always nice. I wonder what makes those Low Landers and Scandinavians so happy then. Is it the amount of alcohol they drink in Helsinki? Is it the amount of grass they smoke in Holland? When I was in Holland in March, I didn’t see that many smiles, instead, I read that out of 14 million ethnic Dutch residents, each year 200,000 of them immigrate to unhappier countries. Does that make any sense to you? In 2000, I was one of those immigrants. I immigrated to India and found my happiness there for 7 years. There wasn’t one single day that I felt lonely or alone. Interestingly, every Indian I spoke to said to me: “Madam, why do you want to live in our country? Every Indian dreams about living in Europe.”And so do the Thais. At least most of them. I guess that explains the long queues of western men and their Thai girlfriends at foreign embassies, trying to get some papers for those money-girls to travel abroad.
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If you don't see happiness as a state of mind then you want to go to someplace different.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment. Especially because I would expect Indians and Thais to better understand than the Dutchies and Scandies that happiness is a state of mind. However, as Gandhi said: Extreme poverty and extreme wealth do not lead to happiness (or something like that).
ReplyDeleteI think the happiness the Dutch feel, has to do with feeling secure. No matter what happens, the government will help them.