Why Norwegians Aren’t Coming to the United States

At left we see someone’s assessment of why Norwegians are staying put. Note that the reasons provided here are largely pragmatic.

Yet I would guess that most of these folks have, in addition, a philosophic take on the matter. Scandinavians in general actually care about the well-being of others, as evidenced by their deep commitment to environmental responsibility, the value they put on education and the absence of poverty.  They don’t have hungry children living in the streets, or people dying of treatable diseases.

And guess what? They’re happy. Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are all in the top 10 countries in the World Happiness Rankings.  The United States comes in at #24.

It seems that an integral part of being human is the idea of empathy and taking care of others. This is something we all understand innately, as illustrated by the joy we take in giving gifts.  It’s not as if America doesn’t have a large number of fine people, but as a society, we appear not to have gotten the memo.