On Friday this article Economist article circulated around school: <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17722557?story_id=17722557&amp;CFID=151408056&amp;CFTOKEN=64030993" target="_blank">The rich, the poor and Bulgaria, Money really can buy you happiness</a>.

The kicker is the last paragraph of the piece.
<blockquote>Although richer countries are clearly happier, the correlation is not perfect, which suggests that other, presumably cultural, factors are at work. Western Europeans and North Americans bunch pretty closely together, though there are some anomalies, such as the surprisingly gloomy Portuguese. Asians tend to be somewhat less happy than their income would suggest, and Scandinavians a little more so. Hong Kong and Denmark, for instance, have similar income per person, at purchasing-power parity; but Hong Kong’s average life satisfaction is 5.5 on a 10-point scale, and Denmark’s is 8. Latin Americans are cheerful, the ex-Soviet Union spectacularly miserable, and the saddest place in the world, relative to its income per person, is Bulgaria.</blockquote>
Oh, Bulgaria. <em>The saddest place on earth?</em> That seems a little bit much.

It is interesting though.  It makes me wonder, why are Bulgarians comparatively so much less happy than their European counterparts?

This is a question that I am not even going to attempt to answer.  There are too many potential factors. Moreover, I think that I am at a disadvantage as I am a relatively happy person. My cup is half full rather than half empty.

Still, I get it. It's the old buses where you can see your breath in the winter. It's the gray block buildings and pealing paint in the hallway. It's broken sidewalk tiles. It's bureaucracy and endless lines. It's the way the daily routine often seems more difficult than you think it should. These things grate on a person. They wear one down.

The fact that these things are a constant seems to me half of the issue. The other half? I think it must be personal outlook on life.  But I don't know.

What I do know? I am smiling in Bulgaria. I am happy here.