The former king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, has expressed a philosophy of "Gross National Happiness" as a measurement of the success of the country. What is your personal philosophy? Tell us why you believe it could be used to evaluate a country's success.
In my opinion, the people's level of happiness is not always a fair indicator of the country's success because there are many outside factors that could affect "happiness". However, I agree that a country's conditions could potentially impact the happiness of the people to a certain degree. A country's purpose is to serve and protect its people. If the people are living well in comfortable and fearless conditions, then it would increases the probability that the people will be in good moods because there are less troubles to be worried about. For example, the great depression, civil war, and the civil rights movement. During those times, people are in constant worry, fear, and sadness. In such cases, a country's success in serving and protecting its people is low, and the people's level of happiness reflects that. On the other hand, when the country is in good times, the level of happiness does not represent the country's conditions as truly. Other factors such as financial status, marital problems, health issues, family relationships, and psychological problems, could potentially affect the "happiness" of the people. A large proportion of the population is affected by some type of crisis. In these cases, even if the country is doing well overall, the people's happiness level could still be substantially low. I think half of the success of the country should be measured based on how well the government is doing in maintaining social order, regulating economic balance, and keeping peace in foreign affairs. The other half should be measured based on the people's happiness. This way, during good or bad times, the "happiness" overall would be balanced.
What a great prompt - it gives you the opportunity to express your personal philosophy on happiness. You raise many good points. However, I lost my way getting to your personal philosophy - by the end of the essay, I still don't know what it is.
Your first and second sentences don't outline your philosophy:
I think the success of the country should be measured based on how well the government is doing in maintaining social order, regulating economic balance, and keeping peace in foreign affairs.
And what I understand from your last sentence is only that you believe governments are responsible for a country's success (based on the criterion you listed.) It does not answer why you believe your personal philosophy could be used to evaluate a country's success.
In my opinion, the people's level of happiness is not always a fair indicator of the country's success because there are many outside factors that could affect "happiness". However, I agree that a country's conditions could potentially impact the happiness of the people to a certain degree.
Could you post the outline you used for this great essay? It will help to see how you organized it.
There you go - you've expressed your personal philosophy on how to measure a country's success more precisely, proportioned half/half between the government's macro efforts versus people's happiness as measured from sentiment, mood, feeling of security.
I think half of the success of the country should be measured based on how well the government is doing in maintaining social order, regulating economic balance, and keeping peace in foreign affairs. The other half should be measured based on the people's happiness. This way, during good or bad times, the "happiness" overall would be balanced.
Now you have to address the second "half" of the prompt.
Tell us why you believe it could be used to evaluate a country's success.
