Ayoon wa Azan (Happiness is the Best Medicine)
Jihad el Khazen Al Hayat - 28/07/08//
What makes a Saudi Arabian person happy? I do not know exactly, but a survey about happiness around the world placed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 26th position out of 99 countries surveyed. It thus surpassed the other Arab countries on the list: Jordan (57), Morocco (68), Algeria (72), Egypt (74) and Iraq (93).
Iraqis are happier than Zimbabweans, who ranked last. No wonder, as inflation in Zimbabwe has reached nine million percent (no misprint here). A chicken egg is worth eight million Zimbabwean dollars, and the local 50 billion dollar bill is worth one third of a US dollar. As for the national lottery, its Grand Prize is of 1.2 quadrillion dollars (Zimbabwean of course, not US), equivalent to 4000 US dollars. I read in the dictionary that a quadrillion is a one followed by 24 zeroes, as used in Britain and Germany. The rest of the world uses the word septillion, as, in the US and France, a quadrillion consists of a one followed only by 15 zeroes.
The study, which was conducted by the University of Michigan under the supervision of Professor Ron Inglehart, preceded the rise in oil prices, so I do not think it is the reason behind the happiness of the Saudis. It also preceded the subsequent rise in food prices, so Egypt's rank would probably drop on the happiness scale if another survey was conducted tomorrow.
The happiest people on earth are in Denmark. The KSA falls behind the US (16) and the UK (21), but is happier than Brazil (30), Argentina (32) and Germany (35).
What makes a reader happy? While awaiting the answer, I will say that it would make me happy to be a billionaire envied by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for his wealth. However, I think it would be impossible for me to fulfill such a wish, unless I move to Zimbabwe. But even there the result would not be guaranteed, as unemployment has reached 80 percent.
Years ago, I used to follow, in English language newspapers, a single-column caricature entitled "Happiness is…" The drawing would represent the rest of the phrase that day. It might be "feet in front of a chimney in winter", or "finding lost earrings".
I recently read the details of a study conducted by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. It concluded that "Happiness is the best medicine", although when I was a child I used to read in Readers Digest a column called "Laughter is the best medicine". They are probably the same thing, as a person does not laugh unless they are happy… or insane.
Perhaps I could turn the subject around and say that unhappiness is to want things and not get them, as in the basic teachings of Buddhism. So I say: blessed are those who want nothing, for they will never be disappointed.
Of course, there are things which would make most people happy, such as money. Perhaps a woman would say happiness for her would be to lose 10kg of her weight, or a man would say that for him it would be to get a promotion at work.
I asked a friend what would make him happy, so he thought about it and said: a Palestinian state. I said it didn't look like he would be happy very soon, and I asked him for another thing. So he said: a falafel sandwich at the Sanayeh Park. He was pointing to our teenage years, when we used to rent scooters near that park in Beirut, buy a falafel sandwich for a quarter of a Lebanese pound, our favorite soda, and then go to the park.
Happiness is to do something you know and like. It could be the weekend, the annual vacation, a firstborn son, your daughter going to college, her graduation, her wedding, her having children (nothing is dearer than a child except a grandchild), a summer watermelon… in summer (and red), a chocolate, cherry and mango ice cream, the end of a cold, passing the yearly medical exam, an iced guava drink, a cup of coffee in the morning, coffee with cardamom, the smell of leather in a new car, a walk on the beach on a moonlit night, intertwined hands, red watermelon (I know I asked for it before, but I love red watermelon), the colors of spring flowers, of autumn leaves, to be young again… not to read Arab news…
Happiness has puzzled philosophers, from those who preceded Socrates and until today. I think Ibn Sina's famous poem was about happiness not the soul, despite my teachers' insistence that the poet wanted to prove that the soul had a spiritual, immaterial essence. Perhaps that is true, but I still say that this verse of his "it fell to you from the highest abode; to uplift the self, strengthen and shield it" applies to happiness as well.
Wishes of happiness to all my readers.
|
