I'm (not) so happy, and here's why

Martin Henry, Contributor

If I'm not as happy as I could be, I can just blame it on being stuck in the wrong parish.

The Bill Johnson/Gleaner Happiness Survey done for the second International Day of Happiness, which was last Wednesday, March 20, came up with Manchester as the happiest parish at 8.3 out of 10. St Ann and Trelawny followed, tied for second place with 8.0 each.

A surprising bit of the data, which The Gleaner didn't pick up for attention, was that even the weakest parish score, a 6.4 for Clarendon, is well above the mid-point 'pass mark' of 5.0.

Why are Jamaicans so happy in a country allegedly chronically in economic distress, with one of the highest murder rates in the world by which everybody is touched in one way or another, and a generally chaka-chaka social environment?

Treat happiness seriously

We don't know how accurate the survey is (a statement which is likely to make Bill Johnson very unhappy), but the study of happiness is now serious business. And self-reported happiness has to be treated seriously. 'Dr Happiness', Ed Diener, a leading researcher on happiness based at the University of Illinois, coined the phrase subjective well-being, which can be empirically measured.

Bhutan has led the way among states in recognising happiness as a development measure. But we mustn't forget that what is perhaps the greatest and best-known political document in history, the American Declaration of Independence, begins by arguing that among the "unalienable" (sic) rights of all men created equal is "the pursuit of happiness".

I'd be very happy if the Cabinet of the Government of
Jamaica, which is starting today its fifth retreat since this
administration took office in January 2012, would take into serious
consideration, like Bhutan, how to increase the happiness quotient of
the people governed.

Bhutan asked the United Nations
to declare an annual International Day of Happiness, much as how freshly
independent Jamaica had asked the UN to declare an International Year
of Human Rights, which was 1968.

The people of Bhutan
are considered to be some of the happiest people in the world. The
Himalayan Kingdom has championed an alternative measure of national
social prosperity, the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH). The GNH
rejects the sole use of economic and material wealth as an indicator of
development, and instead adopts a more holistic outlook, where the
spiritual well-being of citizens and communities is given as much
importance as their material well-being.

What makes
people happy?

The Gleaner Happiness
Survey found people overwhelmingly making the same wrong assumption,
cutting against common-sense observation, that more money will buy more
happiness. In answer to the question, "What is the one thing that could
happen to you that would make you a much happier person than you are
now? Thirty-five per cent chose "get a lot of money, win the lottery".
The nearest rival was "get a job, have job security", with only one-half
the more money score (17 per cent).

Beyond
Money

Ed Diener notes in his 2004 book,
Beyond Money: Towards an Economy of Well-being, that,
"... Over the past 50 years, income has climbed steadily in the United
States, with the gross domestic product per capita tripling, and yet
life satisfaction has been virtually flat. Since World War II, there has
been a dramatic divergence between real income (after taxes and
inflation) and life satisfaction in the United States, and a similar
pattern can be seen in the data from other nations, such as
Japan."

The clergy with whom The Gleaner
spoke about happiness are much closer to the research
findings. Spiritual connectedness and spiritual well-being are key to
happiness. The Gleaner/Johnson Happiness Survey found
that very religious persons are significantly happier than
non-religious persons, 7.9 to 6.9. In the secular academic world in
which Diener works, he is reporting from years of study that "the most
salient characteristics shared by [people] with the highest levels of
happiness and the fewest signs of depression were their strong ties to
friends and family and commitment to spending time with
them".

Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Kingston
Donald Reece told The Gleaner that he has found that
"the home has a lot to do with happiness". Human relationships, not
things, are key to happiness. Studies have repeatedly established that
people in marital relationships, on average, live longer than single
people. And Tim and Beverley LaHaye, in their classic book, The
Act of Marriage, convincingly blew up the myth with hard data
that Christian couples had less rewarding sex lives and had greater
sexual discontent than those not restricted by Christian scruples. The
believers, it turned out, did it more often and had greater pleasure.
And the tighter the monogamous bond, the better sex
is.

I have serially bought several copies of
The Act of Marriage and lent them to people getting
married who kept them. And I have none now. But I have already learned
the lessons of the book.

So what could possibly be my
grouse today? I have several from last week's news, and some recent
events as well not to be happy about.

The media,
particularly this newspaper in front-page news, a circuitous editorial,
and the printing of ignorant, poorly reasoned and damaging Facebook
responses, rained heavily on Permanent Secretary (then for the Ministry
of Justice) Robert Rainford for posting bail for Cash Plus boss Carlos
Hill in 2008.

Attorney-at-law Patrick Delano Bailey,
in a letter to the editor which, thankfully, the paper carried, said Mr
Rainford should be commended and clearly set out why. In addition, the
learned judge for the case accepted without comment Mr Rainford's
standing surety for Mr Hill in 2008 and would have done so again in
2013.

Bail simply allows an arrested person, without
prejudice of guilt or innocence, to be released from custody with surety
to appear for trial. One Facebook commentator indignantly wanted to
know how a member of the Government could be standing surety for a
criminal. And the paper printed the comment.

Another
wanted to know how a PS could afford a bond of J$15 million. This is the
price of a middle-class house today! But clearly the writer does not
know that bond may be property, not cash.

The
editorial sees a noble, risky act of kindness for a fellow citizen,
openly executed, and accepted by the courts, as some failure of
judgement on Mr Rainford's part - the only thing he is left guilty of in
the court of media opinion. Now that's a friend or relative I'd be
happy to have should I ever be in trouble with the
law!

Education revolution

Grade six
students, 43,000 of them, sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) last
Thursday and Friday. The number of grade six students (age 11+) in the
population is trending downwards from the 50,000 which used to sit GSAT.
This is good news for population regulation. A declining fertility rate
is a powerful index of better education for women and greater economic
opportunity.

P.J. Patterson, who as prime minister led
his own significant education revolution, which I think is his greatest
legacy, now as co-chair of the PNP's 75th Anniversary Planning
Committee, says the granting of 2,000 free places in secondary school
which launched the Common Entrance (precursor to the GSAT) in 1958
remains the most important achievement by the party in its 75-year
history. Against 43,000 GSATers, 2,000 looks tiny until we recall that
there were only about 35 scholarships for boys prior to that revolution
in access to secondary education, and even fewer for
girls.

I am not happy that the cost of electricity
went up last week after a generation of dithering about diversifying
energy sources and switching to cheaper fossil fuels. I am not happy
that the Jamaican dollar is daily breaking records in its sprint towards
100 to the US dollar, pushed by speculation and the poor conditions of
the economy.

I am happy with the stance taken by the
Senate, led by a government senator and minister, in which the Upper
House rose to its proper constitutional role, in delaying the passage of
the Law Reform Fraudulent Transactions Special Provisions Act (the
anti-lottery scam bill) to allow for full review and debate, taking into
consideration the concerns of the public.

The bill
was passed last Thursday with 14 amendments. Not perfect - there are
lingering concerns over excessiveness and potential trespass upon the
rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens - but
improved.

A defamation bill is soon to be tabled in
Parliament. While I welcome the greater protection, and freedom, which
will be offered for the investigation and reporting of corrupt and
unlawful acts, I would be more than happy to see both the Upper and the
Lower House rise to the challenge and ensure that the need to pursue
misconduct should be properly counterbalanced by the need to protect
reputation, the real measure of any good defamation
law.

Considering our consideration of happiness today,
the Cabinet retreat agenda, as announced by the de
facto minister of information, is a big improvement over the
last one, and encouraging. For two days the executive will be discussing
"the growth agenda, including job-creation strategies, human-capital
development, social inclusion, improved security and safety, fiscal
prudence, and the pursuit of a credible economic
programme."

There is much more here than debt
management, and much of it, if successfully pulled off, can improve
human happiness. We know, for example, that work and security and safety
do much to improve the levels of human happiness.

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to
columns@gleanerjm.com and
medhen@gmail.com.