Happiness and joy

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Tom Bengtson

The day after I attended a funeral for a dear friend, I feel compelled to write about happiness. Dick Miller, with whom I had worked for nearly five years, died suddenly at age 64. The well-attended funeral in Saint Paul was both sad and joyful, but maybe I am confusing my sadness with grief. My tears for Dick acknowledged loss, my own being miniscule compared to that of his wife, three sons and their extended family.

But there was joy in the room too. Dick was a good man, a gentleman if ever there was one. The priest said his life exhibited “quiet virtue.” He further noted that Dick set aside two holy hours per week for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Dick had just committed to a third hour so that he could devote one hour to each of his sons. It is a blessed thing to know a truly good man; those of us who knew Dick experienced that blessing. None of us at the funeral had to wonder about this faith-filled man’s eternal fate. He is with his Maker now; I believe his joy must be so abundant that some of it literally spilled over onto us still living in the corporeal world.

Lasting joy is about a solid relationship with God. All through life we can nurture that relationship, and I think happiness helps us to do that. Happiness is, therefore, serious business. And for a long time, I have been a fan of Gretchen Rubin, who wrote a best selling book about it.

I would encourage anyone to read “The Happiness Project.” As a memoir, I like the way she has structured the book, a chapter devoted to each month of the year. There are tons of tips in this book for actually living a happier life. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this to be a very spiritual book. Apparently, I am not the only one who sees the distinction between happiness and joy, and believes that one can lead to the other.

Rubin is a fan of Saint Therese of Lisieux. In her August chapter, she writes about “the Little Flower” and the impact this Doctor of the Church had on her. The beauty of St. Therese, at least as far as I know, has always been her ability to find joy in the little things. The mundane and ordinary were sources of great joy to St. Therese; that has given me something to think about. We take so much for granted; St. Therese calls us into gratitude. Rubin write about gratitude, too. She is so right-on here. The more we thank God for what we have, the less time we spend cursing over what we don’t have. 

Dick figured out a long time ago what Rubin writes and blogs about, albeit sometimes in a round-about way – that happiness comes from God. It takes humility to recognize this fact, but once you get there it’s a great thing. Most of the world won’t go there, and so we have a lot of unhappy, joyless people wondering about. Most people seek happiness in the false promises of the world, that is, sex, wealth, politics, health and education. These are the Holy Grails of our time, as misleading today as they have been since the beginning of time. Each is a great gift, in and of itself, but none can bring lasting happiness.

I am going to remember Dick fondly, keep working on my relationship with God, and keep trying to bring happiness to all those I meet.

Share
Posted in reflection | 60 Comments

Some perspectives on state budgets.

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Tom Bengtson

I like this speech Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered recently in New York. He is talking about state budgets and some of the issues that come up that make it so difficult for lawmakers to match expenses to revenue.

He comments about states being more dependent than ever on the fortunes of the economy. That’s interesting. Are there ways to insulate state budgets from economic downturns? His comment about rain day funds suggests that if states can restrain themselves from over-exuberant spending in the good times, they may have enough to cushion the blow during bad times. But is there something even more that states can do?

Bernanke doesn’t get into it, but some of the problems have to do with structural budget components which build in automatic spending increases. This is not the way budgets are done at most small businesses. At a small business, if $5,000 was spent last year on something, it would be considered an increase in the new budget if $5,100 was slated to be spent on it next year. In government parlance, in many states, including Minnesota, such an increase would be considered holding the budget even, and if it were in fact held even at $5,000, that would be called a cut. Revenue is predicted to be higher in the next biennium in my own state, for example, yet the official projection is for a deficit.

Bernanke also has the right idea when he talks about the need to figure in long-term spending. Budget debates are always about next year, or the next biennium, which makes it hard to make any real progress. Structural budget changes are best considered in a long range context. Anything lawmakers can do to integrate short term obligations with a longer term vision is a plus, in my book.

Share
Posted in government | 42 Comments

Free doctors to apologize

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Tom Bengtson

In “Emerging Son,” I write about undergoing surgery that fails. The mistake wasn’t detected until after a two-week recovery period. I remember when it was discovered. The doctor’s face went ashen. He understood the magnitude of the failure much more quickly than I did. He was probing around the incision when he realized what had happened. “It didn’t work; this is a disaster,” I remember him saying.

I remember him telling me that he was very sorry. The situation was not life-threatening, but it would be necessary to have another surgery. This really got me down. I remember the doctor saying he would perform the second surgery at no cost. A few months later, I did have the surgery again, and everything went fine.

Medicine being more art than science, it never occurred to me that I was the victim of medical malpractice. Perhaps there were grounds for a lawsuit but that never entered my mind. I really wasn’t interested in blame. The doctor was sincere in his concern; that was impressive to me in this case.

Apparently, the doctor was taking a risk in apologizing to me. In some states, including Minnesota, an apology can be used against a doctor in a medical malpractice lawsuit. So today, most doctors in these states don’t ever say they are sorry.

Interestingly enough, there are 35 states that have laws that protect doctors who say they are sorry to their patients after something goes wrong. The law prevents the plaintiff from using the doctor’s apology against them in court. It’s kind of like a good Samaritan law for doctors.

There’s an organization called “Sorry Works!” that is advocating for states such as Minnesota to pass laws which protect doctors so they can appologize without fear it will come back to haunt them in court. Check out their web site.

It sounds like a small thing, but I like it. Anything we can do to reduce the legalistic nature of the practice of medicine is a good thing in my book. Doctors and patients need to be able to communicate sincerely and honestly, like human beings. They shouldn’t be forced to start their relationship as potential adversaries in court.

Share
Posted in Emerging Son, State law | 99 Comments

Welcome

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Tom Bengtson

John Mueller’s new book, Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element, relies on Aquinas to frame economics along a four-part reduction of all human action: production, exchange, distribution and consumption. Mueller points out that although Aquinas drew on the work of Aristotle and Augustine, we get this basis for the study of economics from Jesus (Luke 17:26-28), who told us that from the time of Lot, people gave themselves to planting and building (producing), buying and selling (exchange), marrying and being given in marriage (distribution), and eating and drinking (consumption). You could argue we actually get this framework much earlier in scripture – the first chapters of Genesis, where Adam and Eve produce children (forming the first community for distribution), Cain, a farmer, and Abel, a shepherd – both vocations where goods are produced for personal consumption via the exchange mechanism of the markets.

I like economics because it provides an excellent lens for viewing the human story, in the past and in the present. I expect to rely quite a bit on economics in this blog, not because I am interested in numbers but because I am interested in people. Politics is usually about distribution – think about the different approaches to the distribution question employed by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton compared to, say, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. These are fascinating times; what writer can resist comment – certainly not me, weak and undisciplined as I am with before the computer keyboard. I am fiscally and socially conservative, so I will not be able to hide my allegiance to the Republican party, but I am not looking to add to the partisan noise that dominates so much of the discourse on the Internet these days. I am looking for sincere public policy discourse, something that helps us because we are human beings before we become members of a party.  

Somebody once advised me not to talk in public about sex, politics or religion, but we all know those are the only things to talk about. And of course, they are not separate topics. Nobody lives their life in silos, so I don’t know why we should be expected to consider the various facets of life on a stand-alone basis. When it comes to writing, honesty delivers much more than purity. Thanks for coming to TomBengtson.com. Please check in every week or so; leave a good-natured comment if you like.

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | 1,090 Comments