Thank you to Kui Li, one of Fordham University’s Youth Representatives to the United Nations, for this briefing summary:
Here comes the International Day of Happiness! Proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on July 12, 2012, the second International Day of Happiness is celebrated last Thursday. Three ambassadors, a professor, an author, a film director and a student have joined us to share about their experiences and thoughts about happiness. Jeffrey Brez, Chief of NGO Relations and Advocacy in the Department of Public Information, gave the opening remarks.
Mr. Jeff Brez, NGO Relations & Advocacy, DPI
Further discussion was initiated when our moderator Christina Stevens, an award winning author and film director, mentioned that “nothing is developed without everyone being happy; nothing is done unless everyone is happy.” She also shared her experiences visiting the Kingdom of Bhutan, one of the happiest countries in the world. Gross National Happiness depends not only on economic growth but also on healthcare and freedom.
Ms. Christina Stevens, NGO Rep. & Advisor, IAAI
Dr. T. Hamid Al-Bayati, a professor at the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University and Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, optimistically believed that “if the world fails to make everybody happy, we can teach them to be happy”, a point that led to a question later asked by a student from Tsinghua University, China, who claimed to be curious about how to teach people to be happy. Once gain, he stressed the importance of being happy. “We are human beings not because we eat, drink and sleep. Animals can do that, too. We are human beings because we have feelings and we can think. So many celebrities committed suicide when they have millions of dollars because they were not happy”. When he was in prison and tortured earlier in his life, as he claimed, he was still happy because he believes that being happy is not about what we possess but about what we believe and think.
H.E. Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati, Former Ambassador of Iraq to the UN
Denmark has been long considered as the happiest country in the world. “But I wonder why because Denmark has terrible weather and high tax rates,” opened his speech, Mr. lb Petersen, Ambassador from Denmark. He showed us a street interview video where Danish people were asked what happiness is to them. Surprisingly simple answers were given. “Listening to rock music”, “sitting in the sun”, “being around with my friends”, etc. He then answered the question he used to open his speech by listing eight factors that have an impact on happiness.
They are trust, security, wealth, freedom, social relations, democracy, social work and work/life balance.
Unfortunately, Ms. Consolee Nishimwe, an author and survivor of 1994 Rwanda genocide, could no long enjoy her happy childhood when she reached 14. She didn’t know what happiness means in those old days when she and family were living in horror and pain. Yes, happiness can never been pursued without a peaceful world.
Ms. Consolee Nishimwe, Author
From a different perspective, Dr. Kaiping Peng, a psychological professor from Tsinghua University, China, has been practicing positive psychology to enhance people’s happiness in China. His organization, CPPA (Chinese Positive Psychology Association), conducts research on happiness and provides workshops to teach the skills of being happy. Interestingly, he has prepared a happiness map of China where cities are marked by different colors showing different levels of happiness. Fortunately, Chongqing, the city where I come from, was marked green, meaning people there are enjoying the highest level of happiness. His team has also developed smart phone apps to monitor happiness.
Dr. Kaiping Peng, Chair, Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, China
Ambassador Carlos Enrique García González from El Salvador also shared his experiences. His charming smile was good enough to bring the meeting great happiness.
H.E. Mr. Carlos Enrique Garcia Gonzalez, Ambassador of El Salvador to the UN
Yes, as Christina pointed out in the beginning of the briefing, “happiness expresses differently in different countries”. But nobody can disagree that happiness can hardly, if not never, be reached without sufficient food, public safety, peaceful society, good health and personal freedom, which are still luxuries in some parts of the world. If you already have them, why not be happier?
Fordham University Impact Initiative 