Posankka, the half-pig/half-duck mascot of Turku, Finland, is not the creation of a sad people. (Photo by Mat Probasco)
Designers of the World Happiness Survey added an antonym to living in peace and joy, with health and opportunity, and freedom of expression coupled with social support: dystopia.
The countries that polled least happy were described as dystopian — the lowest happiness votes against which other countries could be scored.
“Since life would be very unpleasant in a country with the world’s lowest incomes, lowest life expectancy, lowest generosity, most corruption, least freedom, and least social support, it is referred to as Dystopia, in contrast to Utopia.”
Places of war, subjugation, religious chauvinism, public and personal corruption, a lack of social services, they’re here. It’s there in the data. Afghanistan scored just 2.523 on a scale of 10.
But that doesn’t mean people in Afghanistan don’t wake up smiling and eager to greet the day, just as folks in Finland — which scored 7.842 to top the list for the sixth time — don’t pop out of bed grinning ear to ear all dark winter long.
Two months ago, we started our thoroughly-unscientific Virgin Islands happiness poll with Minna Arve, mayor of Finland’s second city, Turku. The springtime sun was beaming into city hall when we met.
Here’s what she said: “It’s not about having a kind, happy face every morning when you wake up. It’s about having trust in the society where you are living is taking care of you at the end of the day. If you need the help, it’s there for you.”
Arve’s 800-year-old city is home to a large university and thousands of foreigners building cruise ships. The young, the new, the weird are all encouraged to participate.
“What’s the secret behind the happiest country in the world for the sixth time in a row? I think it’s about the resilience and the trust in society. That’s why, for me as mayor, it’s really important to have a kind of city where the residents feel that this is really their home. They are heard. We have ways to take decision-making and make it open and transparent. I think that’s actually the biggest thing,” Arve said.
So what’s it like in the happiest country on earth? Well, from my two springtime trips there, its a bunch of joyous weirdos, where everyone seems very much at home doing their own thing, like inventing a half-pig/half-duck named Posankka to serve as the unofficial Turku mascot or inventing a version of table tennis where you move the table as well as the ball.
Let me explain: With an abundance of leisure time, athleticism, and deep longing for cooperating, the Helsinki-based ping-pong enthusiasts Pongfinity have made a game where teams of two move wheel-mounted table tennis tables around a room, trying to bounce and return the other team’s ball. Here, have a look. I’m not making this up.
People in dystopian situations don’t do this.
That’s Posankka in the photo for this article, by the way. Someone got grumpy about my smiley-face alteration of the USVI flag. Far be it from me to spur animosity in a happiness survey. It’s like those people who honk a millisecond before the light turns green. What’s the point of that? That’s not happiness. That’s applied grumpiness.
So, where did Virgin Islanders score themselves on our unofficial tally? I couldn’t tell you. The few answers I got were all over the place. If we took the results as representative, we’d report Virgin Islanders’ plan to live past 100 in perfect health and ecstatic joy — because we only got one reply to the long and healthy life expectancy question, a 10.
Overall, we got the most responses on the corruption question, no surprise. One or two people thought the U.S. Virgin Islands was rife with corruption, while others implied this was more myth than reality.
With 0 being the worst type of corruption and 10 being sainthood, here are your scores: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9. One person suggested the federal Department of the Interior needed to step in and take control of the territory.
Interestingly, both the lowest and highest scores came from St. John, a place more and more becoming an island of haves and have-nots.
“Being in St John myself, I feel like us being a part of the St.Thomas district makes us particularly unheard. And we also are seeing the greatest amount of displacement and gentrification,” one person wrote.
There’s a very high perception of corruption from a few respondents, while others suggested there’s far less actual corruption than accusations — at least in the USVI.
A long-time employee of both the federal and local government wrote to say they’d never personally witnessed financial corruption within government. “Sure, sometimes who you know can get you to the head of the line faster but never have I seen or even heard of financial incentives being involved,” said the lifelong U.S. Virgin Islander in the know. “The BVI is a whole different story!”
We didn’t get any responses from the British Virgin Islands, which is sad because I would love to know how they feel in the face of their recent troubles.
A St. Thomas resident suggested some level of corruption was unavoidable but shouldn’t be an excuse for incompetence. “I believe that a lot of people realize that politicians will accept bribes and skim money off the top but they are still required to get the job done,” they wrote.
A part-time St. John resident looked at potential corruption through the lens of non-attachment as the way to happiness: “I cannot speak to specific corruption in the territory, but I think it will always be with us as long as there is self grasping.”
None of the other five categories got more than two responses. What we did get, however, are some great messages about life in the V.I.
“Attitude, attitude, attitude!! Go in with a smile on your face and a ‘Good Morning!’ and doors open. Happiness is a state of mind and it rubs off on those around you. People want to be happy and I feel that most of us on these little islands in the Caribbean are eager to be happy when encountering happiness from someone else. At least, that has been my experience,” a lifelong St. Johnian said. “We have been truly happy and love our community.”
A part-time St. John resident reported their sense of well-being went off the charts — to the positive. “Score 11 … if I discount extrinsic measures and go by intrinsic.”
A multi-generational St. Johnian said having family land on island saved a ton of money. They ranked their sense of financial well-being as a 5 but estimated that it would drop to a 2 or 3 if they had to rent a place. This same person said their sense of personal freedom was a 9 but feared the rise of homeowners associations ruling over the island’s limited real estate.
As for overall reports, one Virgin Islander said the beauty of the islands will only take a person so far. “I think you will get some 8s to 9s and quite a few 10s. You see, happiness is not where you live. Happiness is between your ears!”
Another found happiness abounds, even in the face of scarcity. “I would give it a 8.5 of 10. Maybe a 9 or 10 if we had a better beer selection imported,” said a St. Thomian of five years.
Thanks for participating, everyone. It was great to hear from you. Maybe we’ll try this again next summer. Stay well.
If you missed one of these articles or want to re-read a second or third time, they’re linked here:
- Money
- Public trust and the Public trust part 2
- Freedom of choice
- Generosity
- Social support
- Healthy life expectancy
