Emma Hutchins
Opinions Editor
Gone are the days when Gisele Bundchen is considered to have won the genetic lottery. A recent study in The New York Times suggests that Alvin Wong, a 69-year-old Hawaii resident embodies the center of the happiness venn diagram.
The research, conducted by Gallup – an organization that deals with statistics, human resources, and consulting – has pinpointed the happiest person in America to meet the following criteria: “he’s a tall, Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Alvin Wong is just that. He is a “5-foot-10, 69-year-old, Chinese-American, Kosher-observing Jew, who’s married with children and lives in Honolulu. He runs his own health care management business and earns more than $120,000 a year.”
I know you can be predisposed to certain diseases or athletic abilities (heyyyy Michael Phelps), but there’s something so bizarre about creating a profile – a rather eclectic one at that – that maximizes happiness.
Although some of the traits designated as factors in his happiness are more nature than nurture, what struck me as interesting was that this breakdown of happiness seems to be more about different overlapping communities and relationships one has rather than pure genes.
Beneath all the particulars, what Wong’s story really seems to come down to, is someone who values loved ones (married with children), works hard (runs his own business), is connected with different communities (ethnic and religious), and so on.
That, or Honolulu is just really, really awesome.
