TROUBLE IN PARADISE?

Two Septuagenarians Two Thousand Miles From home

Travel Becomes More Difficult as We Grow Older. We tire more easily. It is more difficult to travel at high speeds due to reduced depth projection and reflexes. Are we worse off than our grandparents in that regard? I hardly think so. Our cars are easier to drive. They have cruise control, power everything, and almost all are air conditioned. Why am I bringing this up? To call your attention to the improvement in our living conditions from our parents and grandparents age.

Now vs 60 Years Ago. The average house is 2500 square feet vs 1200 sixty years ago. In 1950, there was one car for every two drivers as opposed to more cars than licensed drivers today. We could look more at material things like televisions and computers with the same result but what about the non-material aspects of how we live.

Women and Minorities have More Freedom. Women are free to seek work outside the home, receive better pay, and hold more political offices by far than they did in 1950. Racism is still present but is not as extensive in a variety of situations where it used to be prevalent. We have better access to music, entertainment, and the written word by far than we did back then. Even education higher education is more available as one of two children participate in post high school education as opposed to one of five in the 60s.

We Must Be Overjoyed with Our Lives. This is hardly the case. When graded on the same happiness scale developed a half century ago, American happiness has failed to keep up with the progress in things we thought should make us happy. The average American is only slightly happier now than in the 1950's. Likewise for the average Japanese and Australian. The British and German citizens are less happy and the average Russian is much more unhappy.

So What Is The Cause? "Sweet are the uses of adversity which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.." William Shakespeare. This little quote came from a verse in As You Like It." I was forced to memorize that verse in the ninth grade. It has stuck with me all these years although I never had a clue of what it meant. Now I do. It has to do with another quote from Nietzsche that says, "What doesn't destroy me makes me stronger." Have we had it so easy in the past 60 years that we are losing the ability to cope with adversity?

Research Suggests This May Be True. In a study that listed 15 of the worst things that can happen in life, such as the death of a child, torture, rape, or grave illness they located 1700 individuals who had experienced at least one of those events. When given a test they determined that these individuals demonstrated greater strength and more well being than those who had none. Further, those individuals with two such events scored higher than those who had suffered one, and three events scored higher than those who had suffered two. One more piece of research involved testing of a large sample of soldiers captured by the Vietnamese and tortured and abused for a number of years. Of these, 61% said they had benefited from the experience. Among others, they reported a better appreciation of the value of their own lives; a better understanding of spirituality; and a deeper appreciation of their relationships with friends and family.

So Should We Go Out and seek a Traumatic Experience? I certainly don't recommend that but perhaps we should recognize these events for what they are: An opportunity for growth. It also appears to me that the adversity that our ancestors went through might constitute at least part of the reason for the success of our country. They left home with little chance of seeing their family again, came to a place where they were forced to become self reliant, and faced a multitude of dangers. They grew stronger as a result. Perhaps our government underestimates the benefits that our citizens might obtain from doing what is necessary to withdraw from government benefits and become more self reliant.

Most of The Conclusions Drawn Here are Mine. The statistics cited here came from a book by an author who's work I have followed for a long time. The author, "Dr Martin Seligman wrote the book, Flourish along with several others including Authentic Happiness. Whereas much of the mental health research involves the study of mental illness, Dr Seligman has chosen to concentrate on the aspects of well being and how that can be improved in so-called normal people. His research, which has gone on for nearly 50 years has been extremely valuable to me.