8 MDGs + 1 = 10
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There are eight millennium development goals in total.
Yet, someone said we’ve got nothing to lose by tacking another one on.
Actually adding another audacious MDG to the list is easy – now that we aren’t afraid of failure anymore – having already failed…
I say if you want the truth, it’ll come from the mouths of the babes.
Why not?
And who better to bring this on but a babe in the woods.
After all if you stop to think innocents are lost every day of the week. Twenty one thousand children each and every day die from wholly preventable causes. Causes that can be averted with few pennies a day.
But we have to keep our Cheer if we are gonna do this kind of work.
And happiness. Happiness can be learned too. And why not learn it from the happiest people on earth. The Bhutanese. These lithe active people who are some of the poorest and happiest people the world over.
For that brings to mind the diminutive Prime Minister of Bhutan who spoke on Wednesday at the UN main hall. And softly softly, he spoke in low measured tones and halting english and still held the general assembly and all the global leaders in a meditative silence when he spoke. And all of his fellow leaders, sat in stillness and listened with rare attention, when he set out his BHAG.
His BHAG is that he called for a world economy that not only met the various Peoples’ basic needs and promoted economic welfare and growth, but one that also promoted happiness. And that to be institutionalized as a measure of economic magnitude on a scale called Gross Domestic Happiness Index. Now you can forgive him for being bold and authentic. Maybe he is a village bumpkin… Or it might be the thin mountain air that makes him so. Or the fact that almost five percent of his people are monastics. And the unusual fact that Buddhist meditation is taught at the public schools – starting with the kindergarten and the primary grades.
But is not just Himalayan Buddhist wisdom and Bhutan’s unique quest for Gross National Happiness that defines Bhutan and the people’s happiness. It is an intentional form of development. And if you focus – you can see that it is a very clear choice. Their lack of financial institutions, zero development zeal and their almost complete lack of Money and credit usage within their economy – makes for a far more complex case. An economic case of importance as another facet of development. And that is another valuable lesson that Prime Minister Jim Thinley could have shared with the assembled world leaders.
Simply put, He said: Because happiness is the ultimate desire of every citizen, it must be the purpose of a state, it’s economy and the development mechanisms to create the conditions for Peoples’ happiness. And he went on explaining that this requires a proper balance of consumption, leisure, good governance, and attentiveness to nature, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability over a long time period in order to be achieved.
Over a long time period is the operative concept here: Patience brings great rewards….
For Bhutan wasn’t always like this. Happy go lucky little democratic kingdom…. It has had it’s share of troubles. Minor and major troubles that almost sunk it several times this last century alone.
It has seen some rocky periods in it’s long existence too. The simple fact that it survived to day is a miracle of any faith. Even economic and geopolitical faith too.
Prime Minister Thinley suggested that we must include happiness in the MDGs. Maybe as the ninth MDG and he said that we ought to observe a holistic development method.
And you know what? It is a goal that stands as a separate value while representing as well, the sum total outcome of the other eight MDGs.
Yours,
Pano
PS:
And maybe the world is ready for a measure of happiness.
I know am ready…
The PM’s ideas go beyond the divide of rich and poor. Bhutan is both agrarian and developing.
It is a member state to all of humanity’s aspirations.
Rich and poor, coexist as well as their diverse political systems.
They come together to a timeless common vision.
And judging from the rousing ovation and applause he received, it is the deeds from rich and poor countries alike, that the world is waiting for.
Deeds not words.
Our world is yearning for a bit more happiness and a well signposted path to get there.
