Editorial – Creating social happiness | Bahamas Daily

Happiness can be defined as a feeling of contentment resulting from a fulfilled life. It is an intrinsic and intangible emotion of human beings. It is generally believed that happiness cannot be quantified and is difficult to use as an indicator of national progress and development.
Most people in the Bahamas have a relatively easy life and a higher standard of living than many developing countries, but there are too many underdevelopment issues that make people unhappy. Although the GDP and GNP of the Bahamas are both relatively high or impressive compared to small countries, the country is still plagued by many social ills that hinder progress.
Many people associate underdevelopment only with insufficient economic growth and development. However, underdevelopment refers to a low level of development characterized by low real income per capita, widespread poverty, low literacy rates, low life expectancy, declining value systems and inadequate use of resources.
In the recent book Small Nations in a Big World, it is reported that “nearly half a century ago, Bhutan’s fourth king declared that gross national happiness, rather than gross national product, should be the primary measure of national progress. He was determined that his small nation of about 750,000 people could achieve progress, material comfort, and security in the modern competitive world while maintaining its quintessential values ​​and humanity. The success of a nation should not be measured by how much money it made but by how satisfied and happy its citizens were. He believed that if at the end of each cycle of five-year plans the people of Bhutan were not happier, then the plans had failed. Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the founder of unified Bhutan in the 18th century, was more blunt. In his 1729 code of laws, he declared that “there is no point in a government if it does not create happiness for its people.” Indeed, happiness in Bhutan is a serious matter!”
The same should be true for the Bahamas. We need to take a hard look at the socialization of Bahamian youth, their values, their motivations, and their goals. While there are many young people in the population who are upwardly mobile and high achievers, there is also a large segment that is unsettled, aimless, and spiritually poor. As a result, certain crimes are increasing.
A foreign investor in the Bahamas recently complained: “In my 68 years, my business has only been burglarized once, and I have never been burglarized in the United States. In the 20 years I have been in the Bahamas, my properties have been burglarized over 30 times.”
It’s gotten so bad that many people in New Providence have stopped calling police to report these break-ins.
Globally, it was not until the early 1990s that discussions began on a more holistic approach to development, one that went beyond traditional economic indicators. Discussions on sustainable development culminated in the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations in 2015. Achieving these goals will go a long way toward addressing social ills.
The Bahamian government must make a more conscious effort to move beyond urban renewal programs and develop a Gross National Happiness (GNH) program that seeks to achieve a harmonious balance between material well-being and the spiritual, emotional and cultural needs of society. The purpose of development is to create favorable conditions for individuals to pursue happiness.
Gross National Happiness must be built on four interrelated pillars: sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, cultural preservation, environmental protection and good governance.
This requires law enforcement authorities, the police and the courts to be more effective and efficient in ensuring the arrest, prosecution and punishment of criminals.
This also means that the government should pay more attention to social development in the fields of health and education.
Moral institutions such as the family and the church must play an active role in eliminating the “free money syndrome” and inculcating the old value system that hard work is rewarded.
The Bahamas needs to reach consensus on more holistic development frameworks that take into account the interlinkages between the social, economic and environmental dimensions of development. Governments are increasingly broadening their focus beyond economic and fiscal policies and seeking to fine-tune public policies to better meet social needs and thus improve the lives of their citizens.