EDITORIAL: Money and happiness don't always come together
Saturday was World Happy Day.
You're excused if you missed it. Because it wasn't marked on the calendar, or recognized in the United Nations.
In fact, it was really just a publicity stunt to promote a new documentary film, Happy, that tries to answer the age-old question; what makes people happy?
Canada ranks as the 10th happiest nation in the the most recent database of happiness, compiled by Erasmus University in Rotterdam. On a 10-point scale, Canadians rate their general satisfaction with life at 7.8.
That's about the same level of happiness felt by Swedes and Panamanians, but a bit worse than Costa Ricans, who rate themselves the most satisfied, happiest people on the planet.
And pity poor Togo, who wallow in their lowly satisfaction score of 2.6, the most miserable place on earth, sadder than Benin, Congo and even Haiti. Curiously, North Korea did not participate in the study; although given that totalitarian country's prohibition on individual thought, it's hard to say whether North Koreans would consider themselves deliriously joyous or profoundly depressed. Their answers would probably hinge upon who was looking over their shoulder as they completed the survey.
Of course any measure of happiness is completely subjective. One man's happiness could very well be another's misery.
Like David Choe.
Who?
He's a graffiti artist who was commissioned in 2005 to do some paintings for the walls at Facebook's first headquarters. Instead of cash, he opted to take his payment in stock. He's now worth an estimated $200 million.
But he's not happy about it.
"I can never buy back my privacy," he told a TV interviewer.
Which just goes to prove the old adage, money can't always buy happiness.
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