Where ignorance is bliss...

The 'happiness' report made me smile. Maybe it is because I have a cheerful disposition, or maybe it is because the report is full of contradictions.

Together with Switzerland and Denmark, Malta scored highly (eight out of ten) in the happy stakes. Now there could not be more diverse people than the Swiss, the Danes and the Maltese. And I do have direct experience of the Danes, having been married to one for over two decades.

That people from the North have completely different temperaments to those from the South is common knowledge, and that does not mean that different temperaments excludes happiness.

But it is the results arrived at that I find amusing. For example, a high number of the happiest countries are depressingly cold, the report said. So that is obviously not what makes us happy.

Professor Ruut Veenhoven, the author of the study "The World Database of Happiness", estimates that education and income relates to only about five per cent of someone's happiness. Yet his study was reported to claim that "the main qualities seen as leading to a good life are economic affluence, freedom and justice".

We all know that poverty is hardly conducive to happiness. If you live in wretched surroundings and cannot feed your children, happiness does not get a look in.

And if income only relates to about five per cent of happiness, how is economic affluence one of the main qualities seen as leading to a good life? Which one is it?

When people have a comfortable home, enough to eat, an adequate education system and good neighbours they are happy. But it does not mean that "education and income relates to only five per cent of happiness". If you do not have income and education they would relate to more than 50 per cent of happiness.

As to education, it is a sure way to ensure freedom and justice, the other two things seen as main qualities leading to "the good life". Ignorance is certainly not bliss and knowledge is power. A lot of unhappiness is caused by lack of control on one's lives, brought about by withheld information.

Although the difference in economic development between countries was taken into account, the report does not seem to have delved too deeply into the whys and wherefores.

However, the fact that "young women aged 15-30 tend to be happier than young men. But after the age of 40 or 50, men tend to be happier", is easy to fathom.

Up till the age of 30 women are still optimistic that through hard work and talent they will get the same rewards as the men. When women are young, men flatter and fete them and make them feel important and they have the edge on the men.

But by the time they reach middle age, disillusion sets in. They realise that the boys are still getting most of the pudding, and whereas middle-aged men are revered for their experience and maturity, women of the same age are seen as 'over the hill'.

The study showed that married people are happier, but that children do not add to happiness. I found the latter rather odd, especially since our country scored highly, and we do love our children and they do give us a lot of joy, most of us anyway!

The people who took part in the study were asked: "All things considered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life as a whole now?"

I would say we Maltese scored highly because we are easily satisfied, as long as the sun shines and there is food on the table. Most have a m'hemmx x'taghmel attitude, and we are survivors. It does not mean that we do not get unhappy; it is that most of us do not wallow in discontent; we get on with our lives and make the best of it.

Out of sight, out of mind

It is heart warming to see the stretching out to fellow human beings in time of crisis. However, watching the various discussion programmes, such as Hard Talk on BBC World, helps the public realise that, while of course one admires the generosity, one must also be a little cynical about the way politicians and others jump on the bandwagon, and how aid to Africa and other third world countries is bandied about.

Certainly the overwhelming wave of solidarity came from the general public first and the governments were 'shamed' into a competition of who would be the most generous.

I was particularly struck by the holidaymakers, interviewed on one of the many programmes, who said they had stayed behind to help. Most people's immediate reaction is to escape from a disaster area.

Yet some overcame their fear and put the welfare of others in urgent need first. That is the most admirable act of generosity of all.

It is of course right that so much concern and media attention is directed at the most recent disaster in Asia. But I could not help but notice the irony of a photo of an American helicopter crewman carrying an Indonesian child (victim of the tsunami) in one of the London Times' front pages and a letter to the editor of that paper from the director of Amnesty International UK about Guantanamo Bay.

Kate Allen was drawing attention to the "fresh revelations of abuse of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq". She said that Amnesty had published a 200-page report warning that "six months after the Abu Ghraib torture scandal the US government had done little to seriously investigate such allegations".

Ms Allen called for "a far-reaching and completely independent inquiry into the extent of the torture in US-run detention sites around the world". Until that happens she quoted a released Guantanamo Briton who said "this nightmare (the abuse) will happen again and again to others".

That is the irony. One nightmare is allowed to continue and is put on the media back burner, while another, because of public concern, is given all the attention.

My point is that we should not just be generous with and concerned for those who are victims of natural disasters, but that we should also look out for the victims of governments who seem to be benevolent and generous on the one hand, and yet allow people to be tortured and abused on the other.

Tsunami benefit

Keep Friday free for the Malta for Asia Concert at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. Lisa Borain, Simon J.J. Gatt and Justin Zammit Tabona have come together to organise the event to raise funds for the Southeast Asian Tsunami victims in need of immediate aid.

The evening promises to be electric, with the cream of Maltese talent getting together to pledge their support to the tsunami victims. Miriam Gauci, the National Orchestra, Voices, Ivan Filletti, Gianni, Ira Losco and Chiara are offering their services free of charge. The idea is to raise as much money as possible. Teatru Unplugged director Jonathan Shaw is to co-ordinate the programme.

Tickets at Lm8, Lm10, Lm15 and Lm20 are available at the MCC booking office or via e-mail at: bookings@mcc. com.mt.

Bookings can also be made via telephone on 2559-5751. All tickets must be collected within 48 hours of booking.

MCC booking office hours are: 10 a.m.-12.30 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Monday to Friday.

This is an entirely non-profit event and all proceeds from the concert will be given to the Red Cross. Besides the fact that this promises to be one of the highlights of the local cultural and entertainment scene this year, it is also yet another opportunity to show solidarity with the people who are still suffering because of the disaster which hit Asia.

Just before the tsunami, the local papers carried some opinions stating that L-Istrina did not reach its target this year because of the support given to black people by Xarabank. Yet, within days the target was reached to help the victims of the tragedy, mostly 'black' people.

Missed opportunity

Locals watching George Eliot's Daniel Deronda adaptation for television, on Thusday evening, would have noticed that the scenes which supposedly took place in Genoa were actually shot in Malta. They were spectacular shots of the Valletta bastions from the Sliema side, Bighi, Vittoriosa Creek and Grand Harbour. I believe the palazzo was also Maltese.

I am sure we made some money from the filming, but unfortuantely any potential tourist would have gone to Genoa to look for those stunning vistas.

On reading the credits, the Malta production team is listed, but how many television viewers actually bother to read the credits? What a shame!