The World Happiness Report was released recently and the United States fell to its lowest slot since the report began in 2012.  The U.S. ranked 24th of the happiest countries in the world.  As Sopan Deb reported on behalf of The New York Times, “Americans are increasingly miserable.”*  Yikes. 

One of the indicators of what’s happening is that the number of Americans who make solo dining reservations has risen exponentially.  More Americans are eating all their meals alone than perhaps ever before.  On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a huge deal.  Though as Oxford Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve explains, “The extent to which you share meals is predictive of the social support you have, the pro-social behaviors you exhibit and the trust you have in others.”  

It could be that our increasing isolation is leading to increasing political polarization.  We are not sitting down to a meal with one another, engaging in conversations, and testing our ideas.  Because “the more you sit around the table with other people who might have somewhat different views, the more you start moderating your own views. And the increasing lack of social interaction and social isolation as a result, for a lot of people — amplified by echo chambers — makes people more radical.” 

Finland was the happiest country in the world, for the 8th year in a row!  What could help explain this phenomenon?  Finns trust their fellow citizens, trust their educational system, live close to nature, and enjoy weekly sauna sessions. 

Or there’s Costa Rica, ranked as the 6th happiest country in the world.  What could we learn from them?  Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the U.S., Catalina Crespo Sancho, compared Costa Ricans to sloths (in a flattering way).  As she said, sloths are “very slow, yes.  But nobody wants to eat them . . . they do not want to eat anyone or any of the other animals in the forest.  They get along with everyone.  All the animals get along with them.  However, they get to where they need to get, even though it takes forever to cross a road.” 

This week I’ve been thinking about what we can learn from the World Happiness Report.  
Maybe we need to relax our pace of life.  Go to the sauna.  Channel our inner sloths. 
Perhaps it would help our society if we were just honest that many Americans are increasingly miserable. 
What we are doing and how we are living doesn’t seem to be working very well. 
Though where do we go from here?  
I personally want our church to keep being a beacon of hope in a lost and hurting world.  At least that’s doing something to help folks be a little less miserable and a little bit happier!

Love,
Pastor Lauren

*Sopan Deb, “Americans Are Unhappier Than Ever. Solo Dining May Be a Sign.” March 20, 2025, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/americans-solo-dining-happiness.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6k4.hs19.lG_t0J4z1zn9&smid=url-share

Photo by Javier Mazzeo on Unsplash

Thursday Thoughts 3/27/25