Stephen Tran
Professor John Clanton
English 1A
24 March 2015 What is happiness? What is happiness? For some people it is the Mocha Frappucino from Starbucks™ that they have every single morning, some it is the moment their first child is born, and to me, well like most people, have not quite figured that out yet. In Eric Weiner’s eye-opening novel, The Geography of Bliss, Weiner travels to each corner of the earth to try and figure out what really makes people happy, why, and if there really is a science behind it. As Americans, our point of view of other countries is somewhat clouded due to how involved we are with our own but we cannot deny that we are not the happiest country in the world. What makes our country so unhappy? That question is as difficult to answer as what makes certain people and places happy because it can depend on so many factors. We, as citizens of the United States have many things we can improve upon to raise our happiness levels and also we can learn from other countries that are happier than us and in some cases, the ones that are not. For example, we value what kind of toppings we want on our ice cream while children in Africa struggle with feeding their families and themselves. Has our live of luxury made us opaque to what can truly enlighten us and help us achieve happiness? America is known as “A Big, Fat, Stupid Nation”, one writer from the media site Huffingtonpost.com literates. Without going into details about the article we can have a brief overview of what America is seen like to other countries. What do we have to do to change that view? I believe that we are not a lost cause and the key to happiness is not only finding it, but also taking things into moderation, clearing the clutter that enables us, and becoming the country with strong values. The premise is already there, we are also known for our emphasis on Freedom and our tea parties. For a country known for freedom, have we gone too far? We take our liberties here and there and do whatever we want and say it is because we are “free.” But at what cost? I stretch your focus to the statistically one of the happiest places on the earth according to Weiner and his associates’ data, no not Disney World – the Netherlands. What about the Netherlands makes its inhabitants so happy and so inclined to feel that emotion that many of us struggle to feel? Weiner believes it to be their tolerance. “What exactly does Dutch tolerance look like, in an everyday way? Three things come to mind: drugs, prostitution, and cycling. In the Netherlands, all three activities are legal. All three can easily lead to happiness, provided that certain precautions are taken. Wearing a helmet while cycling, for instance.” Weiner extrapolates. What Weiner is trying to convey is that just by allowing these three activities or, “tolerating” them, increases happiness for the Dutch people exponentially. A Dutch psychologist and journalist, Ellen de Bruin, verbalized that Dutch women do not get depressed. Conferring to Bruin, “Personal choice is key: in the Netherlands people are free to use soft drugs here, we can pretty much say anything we like. The Netherlands is a very free country.” How is this different from the United States? What about our First Amendment? We give our people “the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” but how come we are not as happy as the Netherlands? The key is tolerance. In the Netherlands they claim that permitting the use of soft drugs mentally assuages user from turning to harder drugs and therefore, keeping a balance and their citizens happy. A writer from The Guardian, Shirley Haasnoot, writes, “Education and government information have traditionally kept drug-related health problems in the Netherlands low, compared with the rest of Europe. One in five Dutch young people say they have tried cannabis, which is the European average – but the figures are much lower than average when it comes to hard drugs.” These country wide statistics prove that the ploy of “tolerating” the use of soft drugs to discourage the use of harder drugs seem to work. Right now we advertise equality to all Americans but still see prejudice towards those of African descent and to those that lay with the same sex. This does not seem to be a problem in the Netherlands where things such as prostitution seem more taboo than not allowing Same Sex marriage. American can learn from the Netherlands, she can learn to tolerate while enforcing and instilling the values our forefathers have laid for us. According to Weiner, tolerance is one key to happiness, but happiness proves to be a multi-locked door and requires more than just one key. Another can be found in the white shivering peaks of Bhutan.

A typical day in Bhutan consists of a wide range of choices from hiking to school, or even lounging to work. From the outside perspective, Bhutan places like the Phobjika valley, where they reject the option of electrification ( the process of enabling the use of electricity to a certain area ), may seem like such a primitive and a huge step back from the advances we have made as human beings. These residents believe that this would lead to materialistic and unnecessary distractions in their daily lives and stop the process which leads them to Gross National Happiness. “Today, GNH isn’t just an idea; it’s a method and practical theory of sustainable development that helps drive Bhutan towards holistic growth by constantly asking the question, “Will this make us happier?” For a country that prides itself on cultural integrity rather than consumerism and commodification, it means that Bhutan is striving to balance economic development with cultural preservation.” says Catherine Perkins. Catherine wrote an article on Bhutan and has had the extraordinary chance to explore its wonders first hand. What I believe Perkins is trying to convey is the fact that unlike in the United States, the Bhutanese focus on keeping their culture alive rather than coming up with the next iphone or how to sell the next big thing. This is something we, as Americans, can learn from the Bhutanese lifestyle. “The average American earns a hundred times than the average Bhutanese” (Weiner 90). The old saying, “Money can’t buy happiness” seems to prove truer and truer. This quote shows that even with a substantial difference of wealth the American man has over the Bhutanese man does not significantly increase his happiness. We are so opaque in values where we cannot even see the goals we set out for ourselves and it is dragging down our chance to become happy. We do not need large over heads or raises to be happy, we simply need to know what we want in life and to make the necessary environments to nurture this dream. The Bhutanese understand that and go to extensive lengths to preserve that rhetoric. Is tolerance and culture enough to achieve happiness? The people of Thailand would disagree.

Imagine yourself walking on a busy street’s sidewalk and you miscalculate a step and begin to topple head over heels onto the asphalt. In a normal American environment, your travesty would be welcomed with confused stares and twisted faces and the lack thereof assistance. In Thailand, there would be an uproar of laughter all the while helping you up. “…there is some situations we can’t control. You can’t change things outside yourself, so you change your attitude.” (Weiner 236). This is a lesson I learned at a very young age, why worry about something you have no control over? The Thai lack stress and that is not necessarily a bad thing. It enables them to enjoy the little things in life instead of taking things such as tripping in public, too seriously. How can we be happy when we are angry or feeling moods of stress? We can’t. That is how one Thai citizen explains the key to happiness. ‘I think America is one of the most stressed countries in the world. You think you need money to buy happiness. You hire people to do everything, even to mow your lawn. Here, even wealthy people do that themselves…’ (Sureerat 236). What this local is trying to portray is the fact that Americans find stress everywhere in their lives and allow themselves to be hindered by it. You cannot allow yourself to be happy when you have so many factors in your daily life that inhibit happiness. Americans can learn how to reduce stress by not taking things and people so seriously and that is the lesson that the Thai people are trying to teach it’s tourists.

In all of these countries that Eric Weiner visits, he makes it a habit to consolidate that country’s reason that they have claimed to redeemed happiness. In the Netherlands it was tolerance and the way the Dutch people allowed what some would call “monstrous and atrocious behavior” in order to preserve the greater good and happiness of the country. In Bhutan, elimination of all accept the bare necessity was proven to allow greater clarity of the mind and easier access to bliss. In Thailand, the simple act of not taking your neighbor or your job or your relationships too seriously, exponentially permits them less stress than the average American. In all these ways, Americans can become happier individuals than they were before and we can strive to take these experiences from these countries to further better ourselves.

At the beginning of this essay, I claimed to remain undecided when the question of what happiness was to me. Now I choose to change that statement. Now I realize that happiness is not one solidary place where everyone should aspire to go on one predetermined path. Happiness is not stressing over turning in reports before Tuesday. Happiness is not working at McDonald’s my whole life. Happiness is wherever I am and whenever I choose to let myself be enlightened by what the world has given me. I no longer long to do the things that were expected of me solely that I could be happy forty years from now. Sure I should be worried about my future and all that it holds, but I can only control what is possible and hope that it leads me the places that I have set for myself. Happiness is not letting people tell you what happiness is. There is so much we can learn and share with other countries and if we care and we show enough determination, we will be in a much better standing state that we are today. I know exactly who and what I am going to be in order to become happy. Can you say the same about you?

Works Cited
Brothers, Caroline. "Why Dutch Women Don't Get Depressed." The New York Times. N.p., 6 June 2007. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Haasnoot, Shirley. "Dutch Drug Policy, Pragmatic as Ever." The Guardian. N.p., 3 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Perkins, Catherine Joy. "Living as a Student or Expat in Bhutan." Living as a Student or Expat in Bhutan. Transitions Abroad, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Stoneman, Justin. "America: A Big, Fat, Stupid Nation." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
"Thailand Cultural Norms and Traditions." International Student Volunteers RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. New York: Twelve, 2008. Print.