Economic gap increasing

The latest Statistics Canada’s economic study suggested that the rich-poor divide will likely happen during the retirement of the aging population, a fact that is not limited to just Canada. It’s the same problem worldwide, the rich get richer while the poor stay poor. In Canada, the widening of income inequality is getting more prominent.

Despite the economic growth, the increasing economic gap can be felt in British Columbia. On the outside, B.C. looks prosperous. But the number of homeless people is growing and the province has the highest child poverty in the country, with one in four children living below the poverty line.

There’s a new book out called "Bowling Alone," co-authored by professor/researcher John Helliwell of the University of British Columbia. He apparently identified, measured and compared social factors that lead to happiness. Helliwell wrote that people will be happier the more they reach out and engage with others, and that they will be be very happy if their engagement makes other people happy too.

Sounds simple enough but there are several factors that play integral roles such as trust, physical health, income and consumption.

Trust is top on the list. Without it, people feel fearful. If people have trust in their neighbors, the police, the government and specially workplace managers, people will be able to relax no matter where they live. Is there trust in the Philippines? Why are the Filipinos always afraid of being cheated, robbed, kidnapped, conned and shortchanged?

Income, on the other hand was said to be relative. While having more of it than your neighbors significantly affects the happiness of those at the low-income levels, at a certain point it stops making any difference. I don’t think this would apply to corrupt Filipino government officials.

I don’t agree with the author who believes that within our societies, once you go above the media income, there is hardly an increase in subjective well-being. However, it’s a never enough for many.

And, while it is true that people in rich countries tend, on average, to be happier than developing countries (third world), their happiness is more related to factors such as having a corruption-free and efficient government, than to income.

The research demonstrated a need for policy makers to change the way they do things, because the social determinants that make us happiest – connecting with others and trust are the same factors social scientists have observed disappearing from society. To sum it all, we have to provide a social environment in which reaching out is possible for the old, for a young, for the infirm because it helps them all.

Surely, it was coincidence, but there’s another book out about happiness but this time it is related to buildings and architecture. The author is Alain de Botton, the best-selling author of "Status Anxiety," with the proposition that we are capable of thinking life worth living because someone remembers our name or sends us a fruit basket. His new book "The Architecture of Happiness," has the central premise that like humans, buildings express and elicit feelings. That our sense of beauty and our understanding of the nature of a good life and happiness are intertwined.

Maybe we don’t notice it but we seek associations of peace in our bedrooms, metaphors for generosity and harmony in our chairs and an air of honesty and forthrightness in our taps.

The author wonders why Vancouver erects so many grey towers to block the view. Do we believe his theory that buildings have mood-altering power? But we agree with his observation that there is something very happy about a city that allows you to keep seeing nature as you move around it. Looking at water for example brings a kind of peace to the soul. It immediately puts the human world into context.

Botton’s self-help mission: to guide us to what will make us happy in our built environment, and away from what will make us sad and sorry.

There’s a new science of happiness today. A leading psychologist made eight steps toward happiness – Count your blessings. Practice acts of kindness. Savor life’s joys. Thank a mentor. Learn to forgive. Invest time with family and friends. Take care of your body. Develop strategies for coping with stress and hardships.