2006-07-14
Happiness in the 150th Happiest Country
Ask this Tuskegee Airman about happiness in the US. My favorite part of his story is aster retiring from the US Air Force (fighter pilot in Korea and Vietnam), he builds his own sailboat and travels in it to the Panama canal.
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2 comments:
Your example of happiness is an Air Force retiree who fought segregation at home and in the military who just died without his children knowing of the distinguished awards he had received?
It sounds like this soldier fought a lot of adversity even for the "honor" of serving a country that treated him as a second-class citizen, and then he is only "honored" by that country in death.
I think the point of the happiest country survey is that in 149 other countries, people are happier with their lives, not in death!!
This guy seemed very happy. And his children seem very happy. None of them have immigrated out of the US. He fought in the war for racial quality, on the side that won. His grandparents were slaves; his grandchildren have more to fear from fellow blacks than they do from whites. What an amazing difference five generations make.
He was successful in his chosen field. In his retirement -- after the civil rights war had been won -- he built a sailboat with his own hands and sailed it up and down the California coast, and to Panama and back. In most nations, people of his age are too busy subsisting to have time for such an activity, and too poor as well.
His US govt employers honored him with promotions, coveted assignments, and their highest honors; like his honkey comrades-in-arms, he chose not to share the awards with his children.
The treatment he received by his nation's govt did not prevent him from serving in a second war.
If you find unhappiness in this man's life, Nadir, I think that demonstrates your perspective: you can find something horrible about the US even in this story of a fulfilled and successful life. Somehow, when his children learned of his awards, they seemed to have reached a different conclusion than you, Nadir.
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