Everyone seems to be making hay of the recent New York Times piece about Costa Ricans being the world’s happiest people. How can that be…they are third worlders, you might be thinking. They are weak, defenseless, and lack the technological sophistication and material wealth of many other nations and peoples. Well, as the article alludes, the reason for all that happiness is, as I have written before, elusive. Is it because of all the natural beauty that surrounds them? Is it because they are blessed with nice weather year around? Is it because there is no military and the government can instead invest in education? Is it because the women are so good-looking (now there we might be on to something)? I have been living in Costa Rica now for quite a few years. Before I lived in the U.S. So, while I don’t claim to be an expert on happiness, I can at least give you my two cents of experience. Yes, I would consider myself happier in Costa Rica than I was in the U.S., on a general level. Of course, I am still infected with the “gringo-gene” and thus may never be “as happy as a tico.” I can attribute this elevated experience of happiness to one cause in particular, a decreased sense of materialism. I believe that we are brought up in the U.S. to believe and feel that success in life is primarily based on what we possess. That is, if you can work hard and play by the rules, you can have a slice of the “American” dream, which is an education, a house, a car, a job and ultimately a comfortable retirement….all of which hinge on a common scarce resource, money. When that resource does grow scarce, as it has recently, “American” happiness tends to evaporate rather quickly. Sure Costa Ricans like the above mentioned things as well, but the difference, I believe, is that their happiness is just not contingent upon them. I guess it is because they know what it means to not have them, whereby most in the U.S. just take having them for granted. Not being so materially blessed, Costa Ricans learn to find happiness in other areas that are essentially free, like nature, family, friends, and fun. I can tell you that Costa Ricans, and most Latinos in general (especially, from my experience, Colombians), know how to have fun on a level that folks in the U.S. would generally consider shameful and excessive and maintain a wholesome, humble and gentle attitude while doing so (in contrast “American” fun seems to often come with a “sharp-edged” cynicism and competitiveness attached to it). So there goes my take on tico happiness. I believe anyone on the planet can be “as happy as a tico” if they just remember that the best things in life don’t have a price-tag attached to them.
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