When a country suddenly gains more money than it has had in the past,
there are two paths that it can take. One is known as economic growth
- of money being invested into producing real wealth. The other is
known as inflation - of things becoming more and more expensive, the
money losing its value, and the gain being squandered.
The same applies in human happiness. When state of affairs of any
person improves, the two paths possible are happiness growth or
expectation inflation. In the first case, the person joyfully embraces
the improvements and becomes a happier person for them. Remaining
grateful and appreciative for what he has that he did not have
previously, he exists at a happier state. Any new improvements are
likewise met joyfully and appreciatively and increase happiness. And
the improvements are never taken for granted, but are appreciated in
each case, resulting in ever greater happiness of the person.
In the second case, the person begins to expects the new state of
affairs. Instead of becoming happier, he instead requires more and
more positive conditions to sustain the basic mental state. Sense of
entitlement grows, requiring more and more to meet ever-growing
expectations that take improvements for granted. The improvements are
inflated away to feed the growing expectations. The demand grows out
of control, the conditions from which one has hailed are forgotten,
necessities grow beyond all measure, and more is required to sustain
basic level.
Both phenomena take place at the individual level as well as the
collective. The current state of existence of most people in the First
World would have been unthinkable to most people in history; and yet
many take it as an entitlement. Frequently it makes sense to show
people how life is elsewhere before they have sufficient appreciation
to value the life that they have and the hundreds of millions of
people who made it possible.
One case of expectation inflation, taken to a thoroughly absurd
extreme, can be found in the Australian men of the father's lobby
persuasion. My friend Dean, who has traveled to over 100 countries,
wrote that Australia is the best place in the world to live. And yet
Australian men have extremely high suicide rates. This suicide rate
cannot be based on political or economic conditions; otherwise most of
the world, where political and economic conditions are nowhere nearly
as good as they are in Australia, would have much higher rates of
sucide. Nor can it be based, as Australian father's lobby types claim,
on feminism; otherwise there will be far more suicide among men in
America, where feminism is far more strident, more vehement, more
abusive, more powerful and more extreme. The only possible explanation
is that these men have absurd expectations of life - expectations that
have inflated so far from reality that they cannot be met in the real
world. Frankly, if their expectations cannot be met in Australia, then
they cannot be met anywhere, and the only solution is for these men to
be made to know how good they have it by comparison to what people
face in the rest of the world. Which may also give them appreciation
for the liberal principles and great people who made it possible for
them to have the life that they have.
Only then - when the overly-inflated expectations are shown for the
folly that they are - can people develop the appreciative state of
mind that is required for actual happiness. It is then that happiness
can in fact grow. And then these same people can become contributors
to happiness of their families and of their country rather than its
detractors. Which will be a far better use of their resources than
whining about feminism in one of the First World's least feminist
countries, or taking away women's rights in a country known for
violence against women, strident chauvenism, and atrocious treatment
of wives.
For happiness of people at both individual and collective level, it is
worthwhile to encourage happiness growth and confront expectation
inflation. In this the good is not wasted but is appreciated, and what
is affectuated is improvement in human condition and in people's
experience of life. And then it in fact becomes a worthwhile endeavor
to put in work to improve people's experience of existence, knowing
that it will not lead to inflated expectations but rather lead to
greater happiness in the people who are now living and who are yet to
live.
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