One theory has it that the recession was actually supposed to make people happier—that the upheaval in jobs, markets, and housing would force us to be more grateful for the things we have, to come to a fresh realization about what’s truly important in life, and to help us focus not on money or careers or material possessions but on that more important stuff. Hogwash.
So says LA Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez. Instead of giving us some needed perspective, recessions are just boring and depressing. They suck—the life out of us, and just suck in general. Rodriguez writes:
Back when this whole mess started in late 2007, a cadre of cultural critics trotted out their high-minded arguments about how a little belt-tightening would be good for our consumerist souls. They reckoned a recession would teach us to cling more firmly to our friends and loved ones as well as force us to rediscover the simple, wholesome, meaningful things in life.
Rodriguez’s take is that happiness is necessarily tied to the “pursuit of happiness” prominently mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Without the pursuit part of the equation, life isn’t as exciting or enjoyable. And the recession has made it more difficult to pursue happiness—specifically happiness derived from “dreaming” and “scheming” about how to get money, according to Rodriguez:
For all of our complaints about the rat race, it turns out it can be fun. The marketplace is still the primary arena in which we realize our dreams.
He’s saying that we need jobs and career paths and money-making schemes and strategies not just for the sake of money, but because all of this climbing makes us happy. It also makes our lives frantic and stressed, but I suppose losing a job, or just fear of losing a job, does that as well in spades.
Can’t there be a happy medium? A rat race in which we don’t feel like lab rats, and in which all race participants have fun and get a trophy (and aren’t fed to snakes after the race is over)? Unfortunately, after Little League Tee Ball is over, life doesn’t work that way. We’ll all guaranteed the “pursuit of happiness,” but nobody’s guaranteed actual happiness. At least you should be happy you’re not snake food.
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