You Must Be Happy (Except for the Six Percent of You)

A new Harris Poll says 94 percent of American are satisfied with their lives.
To read the full report click here:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070814005102&newsLang=en

I'm sot sure what it all means, although I would wholeheartedly agree with the assessment that those on the East Coast are not quite as happy as those in other parts of the country. You Bostonians and New Yorkers know what I mean. It makes sense when you think about it: the more tightly confined your living space, the more you compete with others on the roads, at work, in play, and other areas of life, the higher likelihood that you will become irritated and angered more frequently.

On the bike trip across the USA I completed in the summer of '06, I saw graphic evidence of this. Out West, in the open plains and sparsely populated areas, people seemed quite friendly on the whole. Once we got close to the East Coast however, more anger surfaced. More drivers honked and swore at us in our one day in New Hampshire than on the other 49 days combined. It was crazy. We rode no differently that day than on any others.

Of course, this is a generalization There are plenty of very happy and friendly people on the East Coast. You just have to look a little harder to find them.