The news is out, we aren’t the happiest people South Africa. We know it’s a surprise (we write this sarcastically) but no one could blame us. We have a lot to be upset over. Corruption in the government, racial prejudices, the huge gap between the rich and the poor, the poor management of our natural resources, the list could go on.
(pic: courtesy of World Happiness Report FB)
The 2018 World Happiness Report was released recently and the list is illuminating. This sixth edition follows the format set out at the beginning, measuring the happiness level in each country based on the individual’s own assessment in six key areas: Gross Domestic Product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
South Africa was ranked 105 on the list out of 141 countries that were graded. As a side, there are 195 countries in the world but the authors of this report only ranked 141 due to the components that were being ranked.
Israel is ranked at 11. With all the accusations hurled at Israel and the constant battle they have to survive, how is it that they are ranked so high on the list of happiness? We will get back to this question shortly.
Another point is the fact that the Palestinian Territories are ranked one better than us at 104. Naysayers will claim it’s because they are living under apartheid and being oppressed daily. The truth is that they ARE being oppressed, but it’s by their own people. Those of us that have travelled to Israel and have seen Arab Knesset members striding purposefully into a government session, Ethiopian couples enjoying a meal with their white friends at a cafe in downtown Tel Aviv, and the Arab shop owner selling his food to Jewish teenagers and joking with them, can definitively say there is no apartheid in Israel. So why are the Palestinians crying oppression? The answer is simply because the few in control have the biggest voice and the most hatred. This hatred reveals itself in violence against anyone that isn’t with them, even other Arabs that oppose their way of life. Any nation that has a part of the population that continually tries to kill citizens of the country and refuses to live in peace, has the obligation to protect its citizens from these dangers.
Growing up friends is where prejudice ends.
The nation of Jews, that we now know as Israel, suffered under apartheid, and attempts at complete genocide, for generations throughout their long, tumultuous history. They were crowded into ghettos, hunted and killed for being Jews and even today they are still attacked almost constantly. We South Africans know the pain of apartheid, we can understand them. Yet they are ranked in the Top 20 of happiest countries! What are they doing differently? They have learned from their past. They take the lessons, but let go of the hatred they could so justly retain. Instead they chose to build anew, and to embrace any who would live in peace to join their citizenry. In the charter for their return to their homeland, they wrote, “…the State of Israel would be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex”.
They are no longer just a nation of Jews but a true melting pot of many different peoples. It is documented fact that Israel made concessions and agreed to outrageous demands by the Palestinians all in the pursuit of peace. Never mind that these gestures were refused and war was declared on them instead.
Street of Cape Town
Unfortunately, we don’t see this in South Africa. We don’t seem to want to let go of the past and start rebuilding for the future with compassion, fairness and justice. We see violent hatred spewed at some of our citizens, oppression handed down to others and crime almost everywhere. There is too much attention on who to blame both inside our country and outside of it. We should use that energy to put the good of the nation first, to address the real issues we face and forge ahead with strong plans in place to build a stronger, safer South Africa for every citizen. South Africa should not be satisfied with being so low on the World Happiness Index. Instead we should strive to show the world how strong and capable we are as we emerge from apartheid and hatred to be an example of fair and just leadership by even the least among us. To have an African nation in which every citizen acts with honor. A fairy tale? Maybe. But we have to start somewhere.
So what is wrong with us? When will we stop blaming everyone else for our problems and focus on developing our own happiness and prosperity? We are a nation of 56 million people, compared to Israel’s 8.4 million. They are tiny, we are not. We are more capable than we have shown so far. When will we wake up and take more interest in and control of, our own lives and happiness?
