The Happiest Man in America

     Sajeonogi, as you can read above, is a Korean word that means “knocked down four times, rising up five.”  Tonight, though, I’m just a tad discouraged.  We have Governor Corbett quietly giving tax breaks to corporations and cutting funds for the state’s universities.  We have Rep. King, an I.R.A. supporter when that organization was bombing innocent civilians, holding hearings on Muslim terrorists.  We have Karl Rove’s organization sponsoring anti-union ads in Wisconsin.  We have Sen. Toomey supporting a Right to Work for Less law in the Senate.  We have Sen. McCain calling for the U.S. to bomb Libya.  We have the Arizona legislature passing harsher and harsher laws against exploited foreign workers.  We have the Wisconsin legislature passing the anti-union legislation after stripping it out of the budgetary bill.

     So I decided tonight to ignore everything and tell you about the happiest man in America.  I was interviewed by a Gallup pollster a few nights ago on my level of satisfaction with life.  I was told to think of a ladder with ten rungs with the top rung being the best life and the bottom rung the worst.  Where would I stand?  (I said nine.)

     It turns out that Gallup has been polling on the quality of life issues for the last three years.  The New York Times recently asked the Gallup organization to formulate a composite of the characteristics of happiness.  It turned out that the happiest person in America would be “a tall Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year.”

     Guess what?  THERE IS SUCH A GUY!  His name is Alvin Wong.  He’s 5’10”.  He’s 69.  He’s Chinese-American.  He is a Kosher-observing Jew.  He’s married with children.  He lives in Hawaii.  He runs a health care management business.  He makes more than $120,000 a year.  And yes, he is one happy fella.  Mr. Wong, for some reason you made me feel better.  

     If you are curious about Gallup’s data on happiness, go to <nytimes.com/weekinreview>.