Why do people in poorer countries experience more happiness and have lower suicide rates? What do you think this says about the cost of “success”?

You might have heard the term “money isn’t everything,” and I think it applies well here. People in poorer countries might have less material and financial goods, but having a loving, supportive family and community makes up for that lack and likely contributes to greater happiness and less feelings of despair. There’s nothing wrong with wanting success, but if the goal of success is to obtain as much wealth as possible over physical health or quality relationships, then we have to ask what it means to be happy and what success is for.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.