Does Prosperity always Equal Happiness?

I'm very fortunate to have wonderful family relationships, including with my two teenagers. They often challenge me to think and ask questions; to "interrogate reality" as my boss tells me. My son and I have often debated on whether or not the adage "Money can't buy happiness" is actually true. Though I realize that, without money, one can only buy misery, I always try to show my son that money does not buy happiness. Today I found an article that highlights my point:

US Is Richest Nation, But Not Happiest

Not only does this point to the truthfulness of the saying, I think it raises the question of whether man can live a life without challenge or problems and still feel happy. I often think of Agent Smith from "The Matrix" who made this observation:

"Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program, entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world, but I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from."

I cannot help but wonder if there's some truth to this. Do we really need difficulty and problems to give our lives meaning?

As a parent in a town where my kids mix with privileged suburban children, I have noticed that parents here do everything they can to shelter their children from anything unpleasant. Children are delivered to daycare slathered in sunscreen, crossing guards protect them at every intersection, helmets are necessary to walk down flights of stairs, Cubscout Pinewood Derby races have 3 winners, while the rest get trophies as "non-winners", child care providers are told never to use the word "no", and shocking images are hidden from view as being too traumatic. And yet, the children are no happier than I was or my grandparents were.

Young people here invent drama and problems to add to their lives, even invent stories about alcoholism and abuse in their homes. I grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, primarily a low income town known throughout the state for crime, poverty and drugs but I didn't know many people who had alcoholism, drugs or violence in their homes. On the other hand, my kids, growing up in a much wealthier town in a far more "sanitized" world have dozens of friends whose parents are alcoholics, or who are beaten, or who's parents are junkies, etc. In fact, one of my daughters' friends (call her Mary) played the "My Life is So Dramatic" game to such a degree that child protection services (DYFS in New Jersey) were contacted by the concerned parents of another schoolmate. When DYFS showed up to take Mary away to safety, the girl broke down and admitted that she'd made it up, something DYFS later confirmed after investigating.

And what about these Emo kids, privileged children who wear makeup and hairstyles that attempt to make them look as tragic as possible and whose most common pastime is cutting themselves to relieve their suffering while listening to music in which men talk about their feelings and the tragedy they experience. Of course the cuts rarely go deep and they live pampered lives. Now this is not to say that some of these young people don't have real problems in their home life but, statistically, kids with real problems in their homes are in the vast minority in wealthy suburban towns.

The majority of the kids in NJ who are underprivileged and have violence, drugs and alcoholism at home live in the ghettos of the state but, that's where you don't find the Emo kids. My guess is that those young people are too busy dealing with serious problems and are not interested in creating imaginary pain.

Among adults, stress is at an all time high, suicide rates don't go down, the antidepressant industry flourishes and I don't see Americans smiling any more.

So though I will continue to do my best at work, improve my credit rating and make wise choices with my investments, my main focus in life is in the challenges I put before myself on my bike, in my career and my personal goals as well as building meaningful relationships with those around me.