I recently saw a segment on the happiest place on earth. I assumed it would be a warm, tropical island in the pacific or a small village on the Amalfi coast. I was wrong. Its Denmark. I couldn’t believe it. Especially because when I lived there I thought I was depressed for most of the year. I always heard that sunlight equals happiness and well they don’t see the sun for a good five months out of the year.
Well I got to thinking about Denmark and the people and why on earth they might be considered the happiest people on earth and I came up with a few reasons.
I photographed a man in his 70s because after walking past him a couple of days I noticed his constant smile. While I was grimacing in the cold, he seemed to love it. When taking his portrait, I asked him why he always smiled despite the cold and he responded by saying it just makes the summer even better. And its true once the ice melts and late spring comes around, this place is amazing. While in the winter people stay inside, in the summer everyone is out and stays out until the sun goes down around midnight or later. The sun then peeks its head up around 3 or 4 in the morning. So if you decide to go to a pub when its light you might find yourself walking home with the sun. So while I admit I hated the winter there, the summer made up for it.
The Danes also have this odd thing called the Jante law. It was imperative at the time for me to understand this law as a journalist because it influences the way you propose stories and interact with the locals. It is an unwritten law that imposes modesty on its people. It says Don’t think you’re anyone special or that you’re better than us.
I have to admit that I thought it was an odd law to live by but it started making sense to me once I moved back to the states. The middle class - something we don’t understand here in the US. Homogeneity - something we fear.
Anyway, after hearing this, I wanted to reflect on my time in Denmark - one that at the time I would have defined by depression but later defined by happiness.
January 22, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Jenn,
You bring up a great point here that I’m sure not a lot of people in the Ol’ US of A are aware of. Everyone here thinks we live in the “Greatest Country on Earth,” and there may be a lot of great things going for the place, like a seemingly endless amount of resources (notice seemingly), “freedom”, and “security,” But what we don’t step back to think about is the cut-throat nature of a capitalist society that never relaxes, has very little respect for those born less “equal,” and stomps all over the rest of the world in the name of cheap plastic things that break and need to be thrown away.
Western Europeans, don’t forget all the other Scandinavian countries, have been rated some of the happiest people on the planet, not to mention the richest. There are a number of reasons, maybe some of which you mentioned, but one can’t throw out the idea that money brings happiness.
Money doesn’t always have to play the role it does in our society. Besides, in it’s simplest form it’s a way to barter. BUT, It can be more evenly distributed, which brings me to the Scandinavians… They’re rich, but they’re socialist. Their money is well distributed. Their social welfare system is one the US could learn a lot from. The problem is the US doesn’t want to learn from Europe. We want to think that we’re beyond them. But we’re way behind.
The Dutch (Netherlands) have a similar saying as the Danes, “He who sticks his head above the grass gets it cut off.” In the USA this notion is obscene. He who sticks his head above the grass, in our eyes, sees further and has and advantage over everyone else. But the Dutch, the Danes and other more socially sensitive societies believe that what we do as individuals often affects others, both locally and globally, so we need to respect this and respect each other.
It’s beautiful what the man said about winter. I’ve always believed this myself. Coming from New England I’ve learned to appreciate the seasons and what they bring with them. You never adjust to the cold. People always say, “You’re from New England, you should be used to this.” But Spring and Summer melt away the memories of the brisk December air and we adjust to a different climate. It’s the attitude you acquire in the process
The world sees something in the horizon for the US economy. It will be a long, hard and cold recession if they are right. We will have to adjust and learn to live more conservatively. Maybe then we will realize the beauty of what we had and how much better we can be.
Hopefully,
Jim