Posted By RichC on December 13, 2025
AFTER a photo from my daughter, who was very proud of her husband, and his “Teaching Excellence” award a few days ago (we are very proud of you too, Drew) … I’m going to comment on happiness in America (see previous personal post).
First, and for the record, my family makes me happy, very happy. Perhaps those not having a family or placing family as a higher priority … and it is often “self” these days … is why so many Americans are decidedly unhappy. We could all probably list the many reasons, but something tells me that boomer and later parents did a lousy job of preparing our children for the brutality of life. We sheltered them and put them at the center … then held them up as uber important; it may have given them a higher sense of importance than they needed.
This chart shows the results of the General Social Survey, from the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. It’s one of the oldest studies of Americans’ views on different social, political and cultural issues.
When asked “How happy are you?” the majority feel pretty happy. That’s been true since the survey started asking this question in 1972.
But look at the yellow line, showing how many Americans are not happy. It reached a new high in 2022 and is stuck there. Similarly, the percentage who are “very happy” has fallen to a new low and is trending further down.
If these trends continue, the percentage who say they’re unhappy will climb above those who are very happy for the first time in history.
If it is financial burden and struggles, I’m not sure if those that were “given” so much as kids really know how to do with less. Are they as dedicated and hard working as the generations before them? Do they know how to show perseverance even if there isn’t a guarantee that everything will be “sunshine and roses” … then that again might also be on us?
The boomer and later generation may have sheltered them a bit too much? How many parents do you know that sacrificed for their kids and did less for themselves? Quite a few and that has always been the case. Each generation wants better for their kids, but ours could be doing the next a disservice … especially if we have coddled them (see book post)? I see too many young people expecting life to be easy – heaven forbid it requires hard work, getting their hands dirty or giving up luxuries. Yikes … I’m sounding like my parents! 😉
Category: Books, Human Interest, Idioms |
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Tags: birthday, cef insider, codding, drew, graph, happiness, idioms, lecture, part two
