Bhutan: Happiness is a Policy

Tashi in his gho

Wow, the government in Bhutan actually has a national policy of Gross National Happiness. I am enamored with the reason I came here in the first place. When I first arrived, I was greeted by my guide, Tashi, who was dressed in a gho, the traditional dress for a Bhutanese man. A gho is actually required to be worn by men during business hours, making Bhutan the only country that has a dress code for men.  Together we proceeded to my hotel which is located in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu. On my way to the city I recognized a lack of signs and advertising that kept bothering me. One hand painted sign, however, caught my eye, and recalling my experiences in Bhutan summed up the way the Bhutanese view life:

When the last tree is cut,

When the last river is emptied,

When the last fish is caught,

Only then will Man realize that he cannot eat money.

The Thimphu valley which held my hotel

As I mentioned earlier, Bhutan’s government strides to raise their nation’s Gross National Happiness. This means that instead of measuring the country’s progress in the traditional manner, they gauge development by the happiness-or unhappiness- of their countrymen. Americans view progress through power, money, and satisfaction, while the Bhutanese would much readily assess the government’s personal obligation to its people. The sign I passed on my way into town connected the importance of contentment to the Bhutanese individual not measuring their worth by wealth because in the end, riches never matter. I left Bhutan humbled and a better person and hoped to take this lesson to heart.