A new poll reveals that young people in wealthy nations are fools who don't know how good they've got it.
Young people in developing nations are at least twice as likely to feel happy about their lives than their richer counterparts, a survey says.Indians are the happiest overall and Japanese the most miserable.
According to an MTV Networks International (MTVNI) global survey that covered more than 5,400 young people in 14 countries, only 43 percent of the world's 16- to 34-year-olds say they are happy with their lives.
MTVNI said this figure was dragged down by young people in the developed world, including those in the United States and Britain where fewer than 30 percent of young people said they were happy with the way things were.
Only eight percent in Japan said they were happy.
I've known and worked with a lot of Indians, and I can attest that they are some of the happiest, most easy-going people I've ever met, especially considering their tireless work ethic. As for us young people from wealthier nations (do I still qualify as "young"?), what the heck is wrong with us?
I can only speak for young Americans, but I expect that the same foolish ignorance applies to rich young people around the world. We simply don't comprehend how difficult human life in the "natural" state is. We're used to enormous wealth, with the average "poor" American family owning a car, multiple color televisions with cable, a refrigerator, almost free high-quality food, safe drinking water, 24/7 electricity, plumbing, free emergency health care, ready access to all sorts of drugs, fruits and vegetables in every season, cheap internet access....
Most young Americans are completely ignorant of history and international affairs, and don't realize that all these luxuries we take for granted are not the natural state of the world. Electricity doesn't just happen, it took millenia for our civilization to build up to its current level, and modern young people are simply in the right place at the right time to enjoy the benefits.
Reasons for unhappiness across the developed world included a lack of optimism, concern over jobs and pressure to succeed. ...Developed countries were particularly pessimistic about globalization, with 95 percent of young Germans thinking it is ruining their culture....
Aw, that's so sad. Boo hoo. Meanwhile, the fact that modern Germans have a zero percent chance of dying of starvation, exposure, or dysentery doesn't even register. Wild animals won't eat them. A neighboring tribe won't sneak in one night to kill the men and kidnap the women. Locusts won't swoop down from the skies and eat all the crops. The vast, vast majority of historical dangers have been almost completely eliminated, and still people aren't happy.
Happiness comes from the inside. It is a decision. You decide to be happy, or you decide to be sad. Any rich American who picks the latter deserves little sympathy.
