An Antidote for our Time
Did you know there was a “World Happiness Report?” Well, there is! In fact, it is developed by independent experts, funded by foundations and published by the United Nations for the last 10 years. In 2021, the results of that year’s survey reached more than 9 million people. Policymakers in different countries use these results to develop programs that target their people’s level of happiness. Late last month, I read some articles referencing the results of the latest report. It was developed from a survey distributed to people in more than 150 countries across the globe.
In each year’s Report, it includes a ranking of the “happiest place in the world.” And for the fifth year in a row, that position has been filled by Finland, with the United States not that far behind.
This Report caught my eye for it seems we have been inundated the last few years with negative statistics. Traffic accidents and aggressive driving is up. Drug and alcohol abuse has spiked, and violent crime and abuse of workers has risen during the pandemic, as people grew frustrated and angry. Much like the 1970s, social disengagement has been taking place as respect for those in authority and one another has plummeted.
Yet, this Report relates something to counteract this negative narrative. The Report has also measured kindness over the years, and there was a substantial increase (an average of 25%) between 2020 and 2021 in all three measures of kindness: donations, volunteering and helping strangers. People across the globe stepped up to help one another when it was most needed. It seems that when people suffer, we humans can and do respond with kindness and compassion.
I think I have paraphrased one of my favorite quotes by G. K. Chesterton in this space before, but I will do so again for it is apropos. In the “Ballad of the White Horse,” Chesterton wrote, “…the men signed with the cross of Christ/Go gaily into the dark.” We are those signed with the cross of Christ at our baptism, grafted into Christ. In this season of resurrection and new life, how can we capture that elusive nature of Easter joy and allow it to carry us through the year ahead? How can we respond more and more to those around us with kindness and compassion, despite the headlines, sharing that joy of new life through Christ Jesus our Lord with all we encounter?
