I will never cease to be amazed at the concepts created by others in efforts to sell 'movements' and books about those movements.
You've heard of GDP? It stands for Gross Domestic Product, which is a leading indicator of the health of our nation's economy. According to the website FactCheck.org, GDP is the total market value of goods and services....regardless of the nationality of those who produce them. GNP, another leading indicator of national economic health, stands for Gross National Product, which, according to FactCheck.org, is the total market value of goods and services produced by the residents of a country, even if they are living abroad.
There. A basic economic lesson fit for Twitter.
Enter GNH: Gross National Happiness. I kid you not. And, there are those who seek ways to measure this.
I'm all for happiness. Who isn't? The concept of happiness and its pursuit is in one of our country's most famous historical documents: The Declaration of Independence. Our forebears felt it was important enough to list, so why not have a definable Gross National Happiness?
GNH had its birth in the tiny country of Bhutan in 1972, fostered by Buddhists, and, naturally found its way to the United States, the hotbed of international desires to be happy. National Public Radio had a short segment on GNH this morning. A man, close to the U.S. center for GNH, discussed how this concept could be measured and the importance of achieving a high level of GNH.
Really? As if creating and looking at a chart that measures national happiness will inspire and invoke feelings of happiness. Consider this morning conversation between Joe and Sally Citizen:
Joe: "Hey, babe, have you gone online to see what the figures are for today's GNH? I'm
feeling really happy today!"
Sally: "No, darling, but I will right now."
Sally: "OMG, the numbers plummeted overnight. We are now in an official state of national depression. We can't be happy today!"
OK, so very silly, but, hopefully my sappy dialogue between Joe and Sally demonstrates the futile nature of measuring happiness. Happiness is an individual choice, as is what makes each one of us happy. For one, happiness may be fishing on the dock of the oil-choked bay.....for another it may be cleaning the goo off the oil-soaked pelicans. What trips your happiness trigger just may not trip your neighbor's.
Do we have to measure everything? We can't accurately measure the crude oil spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico so how do expect to measure happiness.
I have an idea: Stop the oil.
Ancora imparo
