Vicarious Happiness

If you are as sick of this winter already as I am, there is a bit of hope in that cold weather brings us closer together, at least that fact is postulated by Eric Weiner. If, on the other hand, you live in Phoenix or somewhere that features your favorite outdoor winter sport, well, then, maybe you should just leave the rest of us to our misery. Snow is OK as long as I don't have to shovel every hour to keep ahead of the drifts or the plow. I can dress warmly enough for most outdoor winter activities (who doesn't like to stay warm when it's cold?), but when the wind chill plummets to unbearable depths as it has recently, I just get infuriated. Even the big screen TV and Wii have lost their lustre in my lust for warmer conditions. That's where Eric Weimer comes in. I'm looking to him for relief, at least vicarious relief.
Weimer has written a book entitled "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World." While he didn't specifically mention "warm," it plays into it a bit.
Weimer was a reporter for NPR (If you don't know, you're not part of the intelligentia) for ten years and spent a lot of time in stupefyingly depressing places so he decided to take a year to travel the world to find the happiest places on the planet. Surprising results abound: a warm climate and/or money do not create the necessary aura for happiness. Qatar, for example, has the highest per capita income in the world; its citizens pay no taxes of any kind, yet he found them less than happy. For one, they have no investment in the country since all their money is their own (who'd have thought paying taxes was a good thing?). Also, their money tends to insulate and isolate them from others.
Iceland, on the other hand, has a climate which is far more frigid, yet people there tend to be happy. Weimer explains that many of them are poets, writers and creative sorts. Perhaps with the cold and darkness, why not? Anyway, Weimer suggests that the cold inspires cooperation...it's either cooperate to stay warm or freeze to death. (And of course you know that Greenland is even colder than Iceland!) My overnight stay in Iceland was pleasant enough, despite the lack of trees and the moon-like landscape. I don't recall feeling happy there, but mainly that was due to my wife buying a sweater for every man, woman and child in the extended family!
I know you're dying to get happy so it's time to go to Bhutan...the place Weimer describes as the modern Shangri-la. This is a country whose focus is not on gross national product, but "gross national happiness."
The Swiss seem to be unusually happy as well. This seems primarily due to the fact that in Switzerland, everything runs as it should, on time and on schedule. Think that's not important? When was the last time you flew anywhere in this country? The Swiss are inveterate chocolate eaters as well...hmmm...
The U.S. is not as happy as it is wealthy, according to Weimer's observations. Where do we rank on the happiness scale? I'll tell you right now that I'm nowhere near the top, personally!
In fact, reading the book actually kind of ticks me off because I realize the number of people around the world who are happy AT THIS VERY MINUTE would not trade places with me even if I asked politely.
I'm going for some hot chocolate.