The Secret of Happiness

Instapundit and Lileks, respectively, bring us the following two guys. One argues that electricity has disrupted and destroyed vibrant African culture and communities (I wonder if he reads by candlelight; he sure has an insufferable smirk) and another says wealth makes us miserable. (I hope for his sake he doesn't get paid for that article!)

But as Epictetus said,

The other day I had an iron lamp placed beside my household gods. I heard a noise at the door and on hastening down found my lamp carried off. I reflected that the culprit was in no very strange case. "To-morrow, my friend," I said, "you will find an earthenware lamp; for a man can only lose what he has."

Another source claims "It is a proof of the estimation in which Epictetus was held, that on his death, his lamp was purchased by an admirer for 3000 drachmas (several thousand dollars by today's standards)." Was that the same lamp?

Anyway, as it says in Matthew 6:19-21 (and me an atheist!):

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

And the Economist recently presented research concluding that money can't really buy happiness. Although income makes a difference, other factors�notably health and love�are supposed to make more.

Indeed, from a book review in the Far Eastern Economic Review (only available to subscribers) about The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices, by Xinran, the former host of a phone-in radio show:

Xinran talked to thousands of women, some on the air and others in person. Almost none of them have found fulfilment. Only the poorest women from central China told Xinran they were happy. These women, "who seemed to have been left behind at the beginning of history," could conceive of no other life than their grinding poverty.

So, um, let's hear it for poverty! In the interests of the happiness of others, I'll take it on my frail shoulders to accept however much you'd like to unload on me. Don't be shy! I'll sacrifice myself!