I think a missing issue is the emptiness of consumeristic materialism. (Really!) I know, I know -- work, study, get rich (go Tree!). Many workers under communism, in trying to survive as well as they could, focused a lot of energy on their own families; eg fathers coming home at 4 pm to pick up their kids from nursery school/kindergarten /primary school. My wife (here in Slovakia) remembers her father, for instance, and it's an issue when I come home after 7 (almost always).
When you focus on the here and now, and what you DO have, it's easy to be happy/ content/ non-dissatisfied with yourself, personally. "Don't worry, be happy" Simplistic, but understandable and even functional. And easier to do in a disaster, when the here and now is so real. Thanking God that YOU are alive, that your family is fine, and realizing that in the WTC tragedy it could have been you ... what is important? Many (most?) people assume the good in their life, and focus time/ energy/ worry in possible bads in the future. It's rational, since many bads can be avoided by better planning, more worry -- but it can easily be overdone; and the same level of worry about your job can then go to your car, or to your next meeting, or the next memo... When you focus on the good, instead, it's easier to be grateful; and then happier. There is also a significant issue about non-responsibility: in war, under communism, you "do what you have to do". You don't feel you have much choice, so there's not much opportunity regret about the choices not made -- you didn't have any. Finally, the envy issue is a real problem here. I was told by a Russian in America the difference in dreaming, as can be seen by an American and Russian farmer: The Russian farmer's neighbor has a prize milk-cow. The American's neighbor has a prize cow. The American farmer's dream: to have a BETTER cow. The Russian dream, that the neighbor's cow, dies. This is a terrible envy, reinforced, fed by and feeding, communism. However, the picture changes when you know that the Russian's cow was a mafia pay off. And, in fact, today throughout the ex-commie world, most people with "more than average", got it without keeping their hands clean. This corruption/crime problem feeds the envy problem. Tom Grey -----Original Message----- From: James Sproule [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 3:28 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Disaster Raises Happiness, Trust Misery, it seems, loves company. How much less depressing life is if everyone is having a hard time, indeed, look no further than Communism to see how everyone being miserable together is still seen by some as preferable to people getting on and succeeding as a result of their own efforts. The bigger question for me (sitting here in London) is when will the US consumer snap out of their present mood and once again begin to shop? James -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of John Cunningham Sent: 01 October 2001 18:25 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Disaster Raises Happiness, Trust I think I recall also reading somewhere that suicide rates dropped markedly during both the Great Depression and WW II. John At 11:43 AM 10/1/01 -0400, you wrote: >A lot of Soviet citizens, similarly, (retrospectively) claimed they were >happiest during World War II, when something like 1-out-of-8 perished! >-- > Prof. Bryan Caplan > Department of Economics George Mason University > http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we > ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught > books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what *they* > thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of > light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the > lustre of the firmament of bards and sages." > --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
