Happiness is a proud son
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:45:00 07/21/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Three questions. First, am I happy? Maybe so, since the 2007 World Values Survey shows that Filipinos are among the happiest in the world. (“Danes world’s happiest; Filipinos 38th,” Inquirer 7/3/08) Maybe not, since two other surveys say otherwise. (“Is the sky falling? Americans think so,” Inquirer 6/23/08)
Second, what can make me truly happy? Professor Queena Lee-Chua gave the answer: contentment with daily life and our connections with others. (“Money and the pursuit of happy-ness,” Inquirer, 7/01/08)
Third—this one I ask myself: Are others happy with me? I have two reasons to hope so.
The first is I help friends look at the bright side. I try to share the few nuggets I picked up from Dr. Emil Antonio Jr.’s class on how the economy works, where he talked about the rising prices of rice and oil.
There are two sides to the price hikes. One, it hurts consumers. The other, it benefits producers and, possibly, better spreads income in favor of poor families in the regions. The poorest 30 percent in the country’s income groups depend on agriculture as their source of income (2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey or FIES).
On the oil price hikes: three reasons why I believe the blows that hit us are weaker than we thought they would be. First, the FIES shows that oil price hikes hurt the top 70 percent of the country’s income groups like those with gas-guzzling vans. Second, our economy’s cost structure has changed since the past three world oil price shocks (the Opec oil embargo of 1973; the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1980; and around the time of the Gulf War in 1991). According to the Department of Energy, our dependence on oil-based power supply nose-dived from 83 percent in 1973 to 8 percent in 2006. On the other hand, our dependence on natural gas, almost nonexistent in 1973, skyrocketed to 29 percent in 2006. Lastly, the share of our country’s crude oil imports to total imports shrank from about 26 percent in 1981 to around 8 percent in 2007. The same downtrend is seen in the share of crude oil imports to total production cost.
Christian optimism frees me from fretting about tragedies clearly beyond my control. Experts expect inflation to average 9 percent this year. This is relatively better than Vietnam’s, which is around 25 percent. True, last month’s inflation rate hit 11.4 percent. But without the sharp oil and rice price hikes, it would have stayed at about 6.6 percent. I just have to accept the reality that I can’t do anything about external shocks. As what an executive said, those who believe in Buddha would get to see a better economy in their fifth life.
The second reason why I believe others are happy with me is what my 8-year-old son told me. Over a Chowking snack after school, he said two words that made all things worthwhile. As I started sharing joyful stories about my job as a teacher with “Anak, you would be proud of Pappy...,” he looked at me and said “Matagal na.” After an awkward pause, I pumped both fists and cried a jubilant “Yes!”
—JOSE LEO LEMUEL G. CAPARAS JR.,
11 Luis Sianghio St., Kamuning, QC
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