Catching Idle Butterflies

The DUH! Factor

797/50,000

See that number? Kind of pathetic, don't you think? And you know what, I don't really care. After all the stress I went through with National Novel Writing Month last November when I didn't make my daily word count (although I did end up writing 50,000 words in 30 days), I decided not to put myself through it again.

Beside, I still have 29 days more to go to catch up!

Now back to what I really want to talk about:

The DUH! Factor

That’s what I think when people or news articles discuss the obvious as though they are discovering the new and profound.

This article qualifies: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060228/sc_space/thekeystohappinessandwhywedontus...

Yes, it takes researchers and psychologists who have spent years of their life learning about the nature of man to inform us of these profound truths:

1. “Happiness does not come via prescription drugs, although 10 percent of women 18 and older and 4 percent of men take antidepressants, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Anti-depressants benefit those with mental illness but are no happiness guarantee, researchers say.”

2. “Nor will money or prosperity buy happiness for many of us. Money that lifts people out of poverty increases happiness, but after that, the better paychecks stop paying off sense-of-well-being dividends, research shows.”

The article also states happiness is largely dependent upon our attitudes, and that many times we choose to be happy or unhappy. Really?

But this is a real kicker:

3. “Some Americans are reluctant to make these changes and remain unmotivated even though our freedom to pursue happiness is written into the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.

“Don't count on the government, for now, Easterbrook says.

“Our economy lacks the robustness to sustain policy changes that would bring about more happiness, like reorienting cities to minimize commute times.”

For now? Does this Easterbrook fellow believe the government can eventually guarantee happiness for its citizenry?

The last part about economy and policy changes increasing happiness made my eyes go fuzzy. Here the article states happiness depends upon the individual, yet later places the responsibility to help that happiness along on the government. Reorienting cities? Oh, yeah, taxing me further so my government can move my town, upend my house and place of work so I don’t have to drive so far will make me ecstatic!

That this article merited being news, was ranked the top most-viewed news story on Yahoo yesterday, and that these learned doctors and researchers were likely paid hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to discover the obvious is really quite sad.