Recently I stopped by my local barber for my regular haircut and as often happens I got into discussions with the others in the shop. I have to admit that this is one thing i really like about going to a regular old barber (in my case the same guy since I was a little kid) because it allows you to have these conversations. It’s not something that you get to do in some of the more modern places.
As you might imagine the conversation eventually turned to the problems facing our society today and the way we are dealing with it. One of the men in the shop is of Danish ancestry and he mentioned a 2007 study which showed that the people of Denmark are the happiest in the world.
He mentioned seeing a TV show where they interviewed some ‘young people’ from Denmark to ask them why they were so happy and also what they thought the United States needed to do to be as happy. The comment that stuck with him was from a woman who said simply: “Stop Wanting So Much”.
Now to be clear from the start I am not sure I want us to have a exact copy of Danish society. While there are many benefits to a completely egalitarian society there are also benefits to a society where innovation and success are also valued. Part of the reason that places like Denmark can exist are because of places like the United States.
Nor do I dispute that many people today are in a bad way. Those who have lost jobs, who are deep in debt, who are facing the loss of all their savings and their home are indeed suffering. But at the same time I do think the definition of what is ‘basic necessity living’ has changed and in that vein we could use a bit more of Danish attitudes in how we live our day to day lives.
I’ve discussed this before but it is worth mentioning again. When I was a child my Mom, Dad and sister lived in a house of about 1200 square feet. It had 3 bedrooms (once you converted my dad’s office to a bedroom) and modest yard. If you wanted to go swimming it was at the community pool. Vacations were usually camping trips or a visit to relatives.
I mention this not to portray myself as having a bad childhood, indeed it was a good childhood and quite similar to those of all my friends. People did not live in 2,500 square foot McMansions, we did not take fancy vacations, you did not have computers, tv’s, etc in every bedroom. We lived a very comfortable lifestyle but by the standards today it would be seen as living a rough life.
Obviously to a degree things are just a matter of improving technology and living standards. 100 years ago it would have been common for people to share a single room while we had a house of our own. The fact that today people have things like computers, cell phones, etc are not unreasonable. But at the same time the idea that every child needs to have every single electronic gadget, that every family needs to take nice vacations every year, etc is a bit much.
So what do you think dear readers ?