Why are Australians so happy?

A nice little tourist-town to walk.  A lot of fun shops and bistros.

Today we did more of the same: coffee and breakfast at a bistro, sit by the beach, takeout lunch from a bistro, sit by the pool, dinner at a pizza bistro, gelato for dessert, stroll Noosa Heads.  Each of us is sunburn in at least one vulnerable area.  Each of us is loving life.

So the question has come up, by you and by us, just why are the Australians so happy?  And let me try to effectively reiterate, we have not met a single Australian who is anything but happy.  That is their outward presentation, anyway.  More than that, and this is even more shocking, I have yet to find a single Aussie who is the least bit annoyed.  Imagine that for a minute.  We have encountered probably 100 people who are dealing on a daily basis with idiots like me.  It is probably not hard to imagine how annoying the Northrup clan can be on vacation.  Whether it is the littlest one talking to the waitress with a mouse-quiet voice, or a party of 6 constantly trying to squeeze into restaurants that are better suited for 2, or Jeff and Janna both forgetting our wallets at the 7-11.  Heck, even I have gotten annoyed.  Tonight at the gelato shop I was, in full Yankee arrogance, trying to get close to glass to get a look at the flavors when a nice, well meaning Aussie mom said to me helpfully, "Oh, the line staats back hea."  I quipped back immediately, "Yeah, I know, I was just trying to get a look at the flavors.  Is that okay."  She was, unsurprisingly, unfazed.  "Oh, yeah.  No worries!"

I could be a scrooge and say how much I hate how happy everyone here is, but that is ridiculous.  The happiness here is contagious.  It is bordering on joy.

But why?  Why are Aussies like this.

Let me start by saying what everyone already knows.  I am not a sociologist.  Nor am I a psychologist.  I am not overly well familiar with cultures and I have not read much about this phenomenon (apart what was readily available in a google search this morning).  I am not qualified to really know why Aussies are happy.  And I doubt that my thoughts will be even remotely profound.

Furthermore, I won't try to address all the millions of things that could be attributing to this happiness.  Things like religion (or lack of religion), the awesome weather, the beautiful beaches, economics, political environment, personal well being, or education.

What is past is prologue.  Shakespeare wrote that hundreds of years ago.  It is from the play the Tempest.  The phrase suggests that all that has happened up until this time has lead to the current reality and what is to come.  In the play, Antonio uses is to justify that he and Sebatian will be committing murder - the past has set the stage for their next act.

Happiness is a choice on an individual level.  But when all individuals are similarly happy, it is cultural.  And this culture is happy, to a certain degree, because of it's past, or lack-there-of.

Again, I am only guessing here.  But tying Aussie's happiness to their benign past is probably not too far fetched.  Check out this simple timeline of major Australian historical milestones and consider the American equivalents:

• 1606 - first European sighting of Australia
• 1770 - James Cook maps the East coast of Australia
• 1788 - penal colony established as first European settlement
• 1851 - Gold discovered near Melbourne and spawned a massive gold rush
• 1907 - The Commonwealth of Australia established
• 1914 - Australians fought in WWI (ANZAC Day is a huge deal for Aussies)
• 1942 - Australia adopts severing constitutional links with the UK and leverages the US as its new military ally and protector.
• 1973 - the last of the White Australia policies were abolished
• 1986 - final constitutional ties between Australia and UK (Australia Act)

It isn't hard to see how different their past is relative to basically every other civilization on the planet.  Even when compared to the US, Australians never had to fight for their own independence, they have never had to fight themselves in a civil war, they have never had their national security threatened (Pearl Harbor or 9-11), they had others do the leg work for them in regards to women's right and civil rights.  Heck, the whole world has seemingly snow-plowed a path for them.  I mean no disrespect.  On the contrary, there are several countries that have never been able to learn from others mistakes or learn vicariously (South Africa with apartheid or Cuba or Brazil).  It is as if the Australians have been learning form other peoples mistakes while keeping a generally low profile.  It doesn't hurt that the British sort of got smart after losing the United States to Independence.  But, again, it was the US's dirty work that set the stage for Britain's better relations around the globe.

Would Australians be less happy if they had had to fight for their freedom or were the world leaders in civil rights?  It sounds like a crazy question, but maybe.  Australia has a very short  and bland history.  Maybe they would need some seasoning in order to be less happy.

The reality is, there are probably dozens of major reasons why the Aussies have this awesome demeanor.  Selfishly, I hope no one ever figures it out and that it never changes.  Because I like being here with these happy people.  And I will relish the opportunity to come back some day.  I hope it stays the same.  

My hostess at dinner last night, when she learned I was from the US, said her friend had just traveled across the United States for a full month and "loved it!"  I said that there were a lot of similarities between our two countries, except that Australians are much happier.  She replied back immediately with a smile, "Well you just gaat to roll with it then!"

I don't even know what that means or how it applies.  But she was super happy when she said it.