Society's happiness is in the pursuit, not in the bottom line

Dec. 30, 2010

Dear Julie,

One of the places I've explored in California is like a magical kingdom surrounded by seven bulbous hills and the Pacific Ocean. People fill the town square because no cars are allowed. Those people seem to have a lightness about them, as if they're perfectly happy doing whatever they're doing.

San Luis Obispo, the book "Thrive" says, might be the happiest place in America.

Using criteria established by experts who have made the study of happiness their life's work, Dan Buettner's book chronicles the happiest places in the world. One is Denmark, where DC and I have enjoyed the Danish concept of hygge, "the art of relaxing in a warm and cozy environment." Warm fires, candlelight and friends are Danes' defense against their long, dark winter nights.

Being fit also can inspire happiness. A third of Copenhagen's 1 million people bicycle, including businessmen and businesswomen in suits going to and from work.

Mexico is another of the world's happiest places, you might be surprised to hear. The impoverished land millions are anxious to leave, the land of murderous drug cartels and chronic government corruption? All that's true, but the Mexican people still rank far above Americans in the World Values Survey index, an assessment of how changing values are affecting social and political life.

To begin with, Mexicans benefit from the life-enhancing vitamin D sunshine produces. Mexicans also willingly laugh at themselves, have strong family support systems and believe that having just enough money is a better way to live than trying to keep up with the Joneses.

In Denmark, where garbage collectors can make $80,000 per year, most everyone has enough money. They also have national health care, trust their public officials and pay university students to go to school. In Mexico, enough money is very little. In America, the "enough" figure currently is about $60,000 per year. People who make more aren't any happier.

San Luis Obispo wasn't always so happy. It was like many American cities, glutted with cars and signs and fast-food restaurants until three Cal Poly architecture students proposed creating a pedestrian-only town square. The mayor, the city council and downtown businessmen hated the idea, so much so that the mayor halted the students' presentation and ended the meeting. But the rest of San Luis Obispo, including the local newspaper, thought the square merited examination. Soon afterward a ballot referendum closed Monterey Street to traffic and created a town square.

It passed 2-1. Voters elected a new mayor the following year. Citizens became more involved in their own government.

The book says SLO's populace and leaders decided quality of life, not business, would be their top priority.

SLO was the first community in the world to ban smoking in workplaces. The ban included bars because bars are workplaces. The city instituted a policy of smaller and more tasteful signs and acquired land to build a greenbelt. It banned drive-through restaurants in the name of creating a more pedestrian-friendly town. One result: San Luis Obispo is the fifth-thinnest city in the U.S. Only four U.S. cities have a smaller percentage of smokers.

The city helped people who wanted to work for themselves. Today almost one-fourth of the people in San Luis Obispo do. Many barter services with each other for the privilege of living where they want to live.

Cape Girardeau has taken many of the steps San Luis Obispo has taken to improve our quality of life. Both, in conjunction with their university, built performing arts centers and have a resident symphony orchestra. Art is supported -- in Cape Girardeau on our floodwall and in our First Friday events. Both have summer concert series. Both have thriving farmer's markets. Both have built hiking and biking trails and first-class recreational facilities.

One big difference remains. We still live in a city where the bottom line can trump the quality of life. One result is that we attract people and companies we have no business doing business with.

The pursuit of happiness is important to us, but happiness is not a distant goal. Happiness, the book illustrates, must be found in the pursuit itself.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is a former reporter for the Southeast Missourian.