Are the
Vietnamese people happy? That depends on how you define happiness. However, a
new index likely to be publicised in 2015 will attempt to stick a number on
that subjective truth. Hong Thuy
reports.
Kindergarten teacher Tong Thi Minh felt like she was walking
on air.
She had come to know that her video clips showing teachers and
students getting into a nylon bag one at a time and being individually pulled
across a swollen stream by a strong swimmer had resulted in a new suspension
bridge being promised for the Na Hy ethnic people.
"I'm so happy to know that a bridge is to be built across
the Nam Po stream for the Na Hy people and my students. Words cannot describe
my happiness," Minh said with a broad smile.
No doubt, it is good news not only for Minh, but also the
people in
As every flood season brings the same problems, adults and
children in the village have had no alternative but to swim or be hauled
across the stream, though deep and strong water currents could sweep them
away any moment.
This highly dangerous method of travelling, however, will soon
come to an end as Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has pledged to build a
bridge worth VND3.5 billion, or US$166,000, in two months to prevent the
people, especially children, from risking their lives.
This is the result of a simple message delivered by Minh to
other teachers, inspiring them to get accustomed to the travel without fear.
But the kindergarten teacher was probably unaware how her action could bring
happiness to her and others.
"I had no idea about the usefulness of my video clips,
otherwise I would have sent them earlier," Minh said, not trying at all
to hide her happiness.
Behaviourists like B F Skinner, who was the most influential
psychologist of the 20th century, would interpret Minh's happiness as a state
of emotion she experiences when she does something good or positive.
This behaviourist point of view believes that it is simply
human nature to behave in such a way that he or she would receive a reward.
In this sense, Skinner implied that happiness can be shaped
and controlled by society. If one wants to change suffering into happiness,
he or she must change the external environment.
Though Skinner's view tries to refute the beliefs of other
psychologists that one must alter his or her inner self first before he or
she can fully experience the change that they want, Vietnamese leaders are
likely to adopt either method.
Speaking at the International Day of Happiness in Ha Noi on
March 20 this year, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed that happiness
is complete only when the citizens in an independent country have an
increasingly comfortable material life and a healthy spiritual life.
In addition to this, the Deputy Prime Minister said the people
must be masters of their country and its development process. All are
eligible for a well-rounded development, while striving for authenticity,
honesty and integrity.
In an attempt to achieve the goals and to make the
International Day of Happiness come to life, Dam called upon the people to
support and share with each other to achieve happiness.
"Practice love, compassion and sharing to find moments of
authentic happiness for yourself and the people around you, especially your
family members," he said.
Apparently, the pursuit of happiness has become collective,
though it can be experienced personally and can mean different things to
different people.
What is happiness?
Associate Professor Dr Trinh Hoa Binh of the
Former director of the
"Unfortunately, people have valid reasons to not imagine
that they are happy. Likewise, happy people have enough reasons to believe
that they are not fortunate," Quy said.
In most cases, happiness is synonymous with a peaceful and
warm family, success at work, a wide network of friends and colleagues, good
financial status and a meaningful life, according to Associate Professor Pham
Thanh Nghi of the
Because happiness is multidimensional and not measured only by
subjective wellbeing, Binh said, the happiness index is to orient the people
and the nation towards common domains of happiness.
Economic growth
The Happy Index for the Vietnamese people is being put under
microscope for the first time and is expected to be made public in 2015,
according to deputy director of the Family Department under the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Huong Duong.
Explaining the reason why there has been no official study
about the Happiness Index in
Thus, instead of having increasingly high and diversified
demands for material and spiritual needs, the Vietnamese people have learnt
to constrain and satisfy themselves with bare necessities, also known as
rational needs.
"Such thinking has influenced the way people perceive
happiness as being 'humble'," Binh said.
Asked which of the factors - a comfortable life, equality,
social progress and happiness - are the most important to build a happy
family, 27-year-old Nguyen Hoang Dong said without any hesitance:
"It is obvious that a comfortable life and equality are
the leading ones. Only when the family, the vital cell of society, leads a
comfortable life is the society able to progress."
A survey conducted among 400 people in Ha Noi and the
Specifically, as many as 73.3 per cent of the respondents said
that living in comfortable circumstances would guarantee family happiness.
Another 25.2 per cent said that happiness comes when the family's economic
condition is good. The rest 1.5 per cent said wealth brings happiness to the
family.
Regarding the relevance of happiness to economic development,
Binh said unless economic growth is the core element, it is impossible to
guarantee development, generally understood as the general welfare of the
people.
"If economic growth cannot be achieved, then there's no
need to talk about happiness," Binh said.
Different world view
Though there remain various concepts and understandings of
happiness, Quy believes that a happiness index for the Vietnamese becomes
more meaningful in the face of the current socio-economic development.
"The rich-poor gap and different understandings of
success and life have become big enough to prompt the Vietnamese people to do
self-assessment about the meaning of life," Quy said, adding that it is
essential to assess what kinds of people or groups - rich or poor, people
holding high social positions or wage earners - are happier than others.
While
In 2012, the New Economics Foundation, a British think-tank
that promotes social, economic and environmental justice, ranked
Many people may be surprised at the high Happy Planet Index
(HPI) rank of
Explaining this, Binh said HPI is better considered a
reflection of the overall level of optimism of the Vietnamese people and
their belief in their ability to improve their lives rather than an
expression of contentment with their current living situation.
There are crucial elements which contribute to happiness,
including material life, political regime, human rights and a harmonious
development between the individual and society, rather than it being a simple
expression of contentment with each other, Binh added.
Professor Quy pointed out that almost all meters that western
researchers have been using to measure the happiness of the Vietnamese people
seem to be inappropriate.
"I suppose that what Westerners feel happy about may not
be the same as what the Vietnamese feel. Thus, when using foreign happy index
meters to measure the happiness of the Vietnamese people, the outcome is a
suspiciously high rank," he said.
For this reason, some Vietnamese researchers want to build a
new theoretical framework and a new measurement method to assess the
happiness index of the Vietnamese. The process has just begun and the first
step is the hardest, Quy added.
"If a precise measurement of happiness is made available,
then policy makers, managers, every community and individual will be able to
verify what the meanings of labour and life are," Quy said.
The happiness index could also subvert expectations and make
us question what happiness is for the Vietnamese, if such a thing exists.
Finding the answer to this question will take time.
Yet, the one thing certain is that the ongoing construction of
the new bridge across the Nam Po stream for the Na Hy people has brought
happiness to kindergarten teacher Tong Thi Minh and the local people.
This formula of happiness needs to be expanded, as Director of
the Dien Bien Department of Transport Nguyen Dinh Giang pointed out that more
than 50 rivers in the province need suspension bridges and more than 125 old
suspension bridges are in a state of disrepair. - VNS
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Chủ Nhật, 6 tháng 4, 2014
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