According to the Happy Planet Index, compiled by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF), the small archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, Vanuatu is the happiest nation out of 178 countries.. Followed by Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama thus making the top 5. On the other hand the African country, Zimbabwe is ranked lowest out of the 178 countries. This index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint. They say the reason why people of Vanuatu are so happy is because they are satisfied with very little.
What about us? Well the Philippine comes in as 17th happiest country in the world, which is not bad at all. This one of the Lists of nations you can be proud of, unlike being number 1 in the list of most corrupt in Asia. Well for me I’m not really surprised we ranked high because we Filipinos can rise through any situation, like the line from Jewels of the Pauper, “like the sun that dies every evening, it will rise again from the dead”. Yes, resilience is one of our traits that practically keep us alive and still going. We are also happy people because we, well are aren’t hard to please. A little food of any sort and story telling goes a long way. Not to mention a guitar in hand, beer and a few friends to forget one’s problems. We laugh and make jokes of almost anything, from politics to disasters and all this hand in hand with prayer. We always seen to find time to stop and smile, unlike other busy cities and countries who doesn’t know the difference between day and night and see every day as a day for war and competition.
The real question should be, why shouldn’t we be happy? I mean we have one of the best beers in the world. Our life expectancy is higher that most countries. We have 2 versions of :”showbiz”, The one where Celebrities rule and the other version where political leader are the talk of the town. Also we still have one of the best marine life in he world. Our rallies are ether a prayer rally or a fiesta. We can’t get enough of stories, this kind of entertainment last for hours and hours. We have every reason to smile, but fine our country dose have its flaws that could make any person very depressed or angry but just as most Filipino say “Ok lang yan”.
Though we rank high as number 17, our standing has decreased we were once actually once in the top 10.Mabey this decrease is because of poverty, political conflict, corruption and destruction. Ok fine a lot of Filipinos have the right to be bummed over all this, but I think we should try to keep our head up. We shouldn’t go in a depressed state. We’ve been through 3 invasions, a power hungry dictator, different massacres,3 failed republics, been enslaved for thousands of years, been discontent with most of our leader and still fighting for freedom and justice, and yet here we still are, going through life with a smile. Hey maybe next year we’ll beat Vanuatu, who knows?
