Our dog Minka has her priorities straight. A puppy who recently turned one, she understands the order of things. Her toy dragon is typically at the top of the list.
We seem to be losing our touch with our dragons – with play. Maybe it’s just me: my perspective could be biased by age and the cumulative contact with serious issues that accompanies it. Ongoing exposure, via direct experience or the media, to senseless or inexplicable pain, loss, and inhumanity can cast a shadow on even the heartiest optimism.
But I think there is more to it than any brittleness associated with longevity. Things just don’t feel as light as they once did. Our societal state of mind is not as hopeful, as buoyant, as it once was. We are more apprehensive, more cautious. An edgy realism has crept into our collective psyche. It is crowding out our enthusiasm for fun, for joy.
For wonder.
When is the last time you felt enchanted, charmed, or captivated? I’m hoping that you will answer “today!”. If not, maybe you can answer “yesterday” or “last week”. However, I’m guessing that some will need to think for a while to identify a recent time when the world seemed infused with wonder. Or when you felt a sense of exhilaration with being.
Sure – life is not always rosy and easy. For anyone. And much of the world has it worse than the average U.S. resident. Although we are fairly fortunate to be born at this time in human history, many born in this century are not advantaged by the birth lottery. A large percentage of humanity still arrives and struggles in extremely difficult circumstances. It may sound – and it may be – at least a little hollow, if not downright shallow, to lament a loss of lighthearted exuberance in the society around me when roughly half of the world’s population, on the planet, lives on less than $2.50 a day. Who am I to worry about “wonder” when at least three billion people have to survive on less money each day than the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee?
It is a sobering statistic. It catches me short – as it should. Still, I am reminded by an internet search that happiness is only partially dependent on income. Other factors, such as caring, honesty, health, generosity, and trust, affect how individuals and communities rate their happiness. In fact, the World Happiness Report for 2017 highlighted the key role that a number of non-income measures play in a community or country’s self-reported happiness. It also confirmed a rapid slide in happiness for the United States. In ten years, the U.S. has slipped from 3rd place to 19th in a survey of 35 countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
That’s a big drop for just one decade. Maybe that’s the slide I’ve been feeling. Maybe you’ve felt the slide also.
We can do something about it. First, let’s acknowledge how fortunate we are to have what we have. Then, let’s agree that what we have is more than a collection of material possessions. Many of us are blessed with ability and income. Why do we spend so much time worrying about having more of either? A value of social equality – opportunity – is one of the fundamental features of the world’s happiest countries. That’s why people of those same countries list factors such as caring, honesty, health, generosity, and trust in their happiness ratings. Those things aren’t byproducts of happiness. They are the contributors to, the causes of, happiness.
Minka’s dragon squeaks. Why does that matter to her? It doesn’t take much time with her to notice that the squeaking toy is her way of talking to us, a means of getting our attention, an invitation to us to notice her and to play. Minka’s dragon is a top priority in her day because she uses it to have fun – to interact and to be – with us.
What’s your favorite “dragon”? I bet it’s not something fancy and expensive. It may even be something in which you find wonder because of its simplicity, its uncomplicated means of connecting you, in a positive way, with life around you. With others.
The world needs more wonder. Don’t wait for someone else to bring it to you. Share your dragon.