Are British Children Unhappier Than Youngsters in Ethiopia?

Children in England are unhappier in their school life than in almost every other country in the world, says a new report

An international report ranked English childrens’ happiness behind that of kids in Ethiopia, Algeria and Romania, and found a third claimed they had been bullied in school.

English children ranked 14th out of 15 countries for overall life satisfaction, just ahead of South Korea, and scored low in matters related to their “self” and school, according to research by the University of York in partnership with The Children’s Society.

The Good Childhood Report 2015, which examined 53,000 children’s “subjective well-being” across 15 diverse countries, found levels of unhappiness at school increased with age, with less than half (43 per cent) of year eights in England saying they enjoyed school compared to six out of 10 (61 per cent) year six students.

The report also found worrying levels of bullying in English schools, with more than a third of students (38 per cent) aged 10 and 12 reporting that they had been physically bullied in the past month. Half (50 per cent) said they had felt excluded at school.

English girls ranked second lowest for happiness with their body confidence, self-confidence and appearance, rating their satisfaction as 7.3 out of 10 on average. This places them just above South Korea, with a mean score of 7.1. Colombian girls topped the table for body confidence, with an average rating of 9.6, followed by Romania with 9.4.

Source

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Do Children in Materially Rich Countries Know It’s Christmas?

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Is There an Epidemic of Narcissism Today?

Is the United States facing an epidemic of narcissism?

Meet the most narcissistic ‘I’ & ‘ME’ generation ever

A psychologist who’s been researching how personality is changing across the generations has coined the term ‘Generation Me’ to reflect this trend. Professor Jean Twenge from San Diego State University in California captured the changing attitudes of students from data collected as far back as the 1960s. She says our culture used to encourage modesty and humility – but that now self-confidence is seen as the key to success

The evidence comes in two forms: Changes among individuals, and changes in the culture.

Although these seem like a random collection of current trends, all are rooted in a single underlying shift in American culture: the relentless rise of narcissism, a very positive and inflated view of self. Narcissists believe they are better than others, lack emotionally warm and caring relationships, constantly seek attention, and treasure material wealth and physical appearance. In The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, psychologists and professors Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell draw from empirical research and cultural analysis to expose the destructive spread of narcissism. Perhaps most important, they also discuss treatment – what each of us can do to stop the epidemic of narcissism so corrosive to society.

The increase in narcissism was stronger for women than for men in both datasets. Men are still more narcissistic than women on average, but women are catching up fast. This makes some sense, as a lot of the cultural push toward narcissism (see below) has a bigger effect on girls and women.

Then there’s the shocking data recently released by researchers from the National Institutes of Health. They surveyed a nationally representative sample of 35,000 Americans about symptoms that can add up to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), the more severe, clinical form of the trait. They asked if someone had ever experienced these symptoms in their lifetime, so you’d expect that older people would have a much higher rate than younger people since they’ve lived more years. However, the data go the opposite direction: Only 3% of people over 65 had ever experienced NPD, compared to nearly 10% of people in their twenties. It’s possible that older people forgot some symptoms from earlier in their lives, but that would have to be a large amount of forgetting to account for this big a discrepancy. With almost 1 out of 10 people in their twenties already experiencing NPD, it’s sobering to realize how high that number might go in the coming decades.

There have also been big changes in behavior – cultural changes that are often started by more narcissistic people and then draw in the less narcissistic. Plastic surgery and procedures are up by a factor of six in just ten years. Materialistic attitudes have increased, and people are more willing to go into debt to afford the best – right now. Celebrity gossip magazines are more popular while the circulation of other magazines and newspapers have plummeted. My favorite anecdotal example: It is now possible to hire fake paparazzi to follow you around when you go out at night so you can pretend you’re famous. This was unheard of just five years ago.

So the whole society has become more narcissistic – not just the people, but our entire value system.

Source

Re-posted with an update to the above, November 22, 2012 post:

We are raising a generation of deluded narcissists

A new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has accumulated data for the past 47 years from 9 million young adults, reveals that college students are more likely than ever to call themselves gifted and driven to succeed, even though their test scores and time spent studying are decreasing.

Psychologist Jean Twenge, the lead author of the analysis, is also the author of a study showing that the tendency toward narcissism in students is up 30 percent in the last thirty-odd years.
This data is not unexpected.  I have been writing a great deal over the past few years about the toxic psychological impact of media and technology on children, adolescents and young adults, particularly as it regards turning them into faux celebrities—the equivalent of lead actors in their own fictionalized life stories.

On Facebook, young people can fool themselves into thinking they have hundreds or thousands of “friends.” They can delete unflattering comments. They can block anyone who disagrees with them or pokes holes in their inflated self-esteem. They can choose to show the world only flattering, sexy or funny photographs of themselves (dozens of albums full, by the way), “speak” in pithy short posts and publicly connect to movie stars and professional athletes and musicians they “like.”

Using Twitter, young people can pretend they are worth “following,” as though they have real-life fans, when all that is really happening is the mutual fanning of false love and false fame.

Using computer games, our sons and daughters can pretend they are Olympians, Formula 1 drivers, rock stars or sharpshooters.  And while they can turn off their Wii and Xbox machines and remember they are really in dens and playrooms on side streets and in triple deckers around America, that is after their hearts have raced and heads have swelled with false pride for “being” something they are not.

Continue reading…

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እንኳን ለጌታችን የልደት በዓል በሰላም አደረሰን — Merry Ethiopian Christmas

“እነሆ ድንግል ትፀንሳለች ልጅም ትወልዳለች ስሙንም አማኑኤል ትለዋለች” ማቴ.1፥23

የዛሬ ሁለት ሺ ዓመት ገደማ ነው፡፡ በኢየሩሳሌም ሀገር ንጉሡ ሄሮድስ ሕዝቡን ሁሉ ቤተልሄም ወደምትባል ከተማ ጠራቸው፡፡ እመቤታችንም በዚያ ጊዜ የአሥራ አምስት/15/ ዓመት ልጅ ሆኖ በሚጠብቃት በአረጋዊው /በሽማግሌው/ ዮሴፍ ቤት ትኖር ነበር፡፡ እመቤታችን ድንግል ማርያም ሕፃኑን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን ፀንሳ ልትወልድ ደርሳ ሳለ ወደ ቤተልሄም ከተማ ከአረጋዊው ጠባቂዋ ዮሴፍና ከቅድስት ሰሎሜ ጋር ሄደች፡፡

በዚያ ሲደርሱ ምን ሆነ መሰላችሁ? እናታችን ማርያም ቅድስት ሰሎሜና አረጋዊው ዮሴፍ ማደሪያ ፈልገው በየቤቱ እየሄዱ “የእግዚአብሔር እንግዶች ነን ማደሪያ ስጡን፣ እባካችሁ አሳድሩን…” ብለው ቢጠይቋቸው ሁሉም “ቦታ የለንም፣ አናሳድርም፣ አናስገባም ሂዱ፡፡” እያሉ መለሷቸው፡፡ በጣም መሽቶ ስለነበረ ጨለማው ያስፈራ ነበረ፣ ብርዱ ደግሞ በጣም ከባድ ነበረ፡፡ ማደሪያ አጥተው የት እንሂድ እያሉ ሲያስቡ በድንገት አረጋዊ ዮሴፍ “ኑ ተከተሉኝ” ብሎ በመንደሩ ውስጥ ወዳለ አንድ የከብቶች ማደሪያ ቤት ወሰዳቸው፡፡

ከከብቶቹ ቤት ሲደርሱ በዚያ አህዮች፣ በሬዎች፣ በጎች፣…. ብዙ እንስሳት ተኝተው አገኙዋቸው፡፡ የበረቱ ሽታ በጣም ያስቸግር ነበረ፡፡ ነገር ግን ማደሪያ ስላልነበረ በዚያ ሊያድሩ ተስማሙ፡፡

ወደ በረቱ ሲገቡ እንስሶቹ ከተኙበት ተነሥተው በደስታ እየዘለሉ ተቀበሏቸው፡፡ በዚያም እመቤታችን ቅድስት ድንግል ማርያም ሕፃኑን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን ወለደችው፡፡ ይህም ታላቅ ሕፃን የሁላችንም አምላክ ነው፡፡ ወዲያውኑ የከብቶቹ ቤት በታላቅ ብርሃን ተሞላ፡፡ ቅዱሳን መላእክት ተገለጡ፤ በእመቤታችንም ፊት ሆነው በደስታ ከበሮ እየመቱ፣ እያጨበጨቡ መዘመር ጀመሩ፡፡ መዝሙሩም እንዲህ የሚል ነበር፡–

“ለእግዚአብሔር ክብርና ምስጋና በሰማያት ይሁን፣ በምድርም ሰላም ለሰውም በጎ ፈቃድ”

ምንጭ

Do Children in Materially Rich Countries Know It’s Christmas?

No, they don’t! How could they? Little Abby and little Billy don’t know it’s Christmas because their parents, their kindergartens and schools don’t have enough time to teach them about God, and they are not happy because of it. The parents and teachers discipline their children their way, instead of God’s way, and they are sad. They are sad, because their parents and teachers have fallen so far away from God’s teachings that they deny their children God, drive away the Angels who could give them inner warmth, comfort and happiness. Little Abby and Billy are sad, disturbed and unsafe because their parents and teachers are to busy collecting the guns, the knives, the grass…and, yes! Little Abby cries, because they took away from her the images of Jesus, The Virgin Mary, and The Angels to replace them with the images of Barbie Dolls, Bart Simpson and Barack Obama.

So, dear Ethiopians, this Christmas – children of Ethiopia know it takes place on the 7^th of January – don’t forget to pray for the materially rich children of the West who have nothing else but to play with man-made dolls that are just like them — pray for them that The Lord could fill them with his compassion, give them His eyes to see, give their parents and teachers boldness and selflessness and wisdom, so that they too might cry out for justice and feed the spiritually hungry, so that His light might shine throughout the earth — life them up because they are in a very terrible state of spiritual poverty, often marginalized, finding themselves in challenging circumstances they did not choose and helpless without our prayers to change. So, let’s all pray for them:

It’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy
Throw our prayers around the world at Christmas time

And there won’t be Frankincense in Europe and America this Christmas time
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Where there is no joy, no light or Angels appear
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

So, let’s pray for the Children of the West
At Christmas time, it’s hard, but when you’re celebrating
There’s a world outside our window
And it’s a world of fear and sadness
Where the only unholy-water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well, tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you

Here’s to you, raise a glass for everyone
Here’s to them underneath that cold winter
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

Let’s free the world from bondage of materialism
Free the world

Free the world, let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time…

“It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” [Luke 17:2]

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” [Hosea 4:6]

“For these are rebellious people, deceitful children; children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.”[Isaiah 30:9-10]

Materialism Breeds Unhappiness

My note: Worldwide surveys have consistently ranked the Scandinavian countries — with their generous family-leave policies, low crime, free health care, rich economies and, yes, high income taxes — as the happiest places on earth. But this happiness has always been accompanied by a paradox: the “happiest” countries also seem to have the highest suicide rates.

Is it the long, dark winters facing Norway, Sweden Finland and Denmark that cause the problem? Or some kind of Nordic depression gene? Or is it because those nations become more and more atheists by turning their backs on The Almighty God, Yahweh? (Suicide Rate 2011)

It is, perhaps, a simple fact of life in the West: we expect to be happy. The right to pursue happiness is part of America’s Declaration of Independence, after all. The feeling has been heightened by the booming field of “happiness studies”, which has produced a flow of news stories and books about what will and will not make us happy, about the happiest places to live, and about how to structure our lives so we can be happy almost all the time.

Some important findings have emerged. Too many choices lead to dissatisfaction. Chronic pain has a more negative impact than a single accident. We habituate quickly to our acquisitions. A good marriage is worth about $100,000 a year in terms of how happy it makes us.

But this headlong rush towards happiness might backfire. Could our constant worrying about why we are not happy be making us more miserable than if we simply accepted some occasional unhappiness as part of life? In viewing unhappiness as a problem to be solved, might we not miss what a little sadness has to offer us? Are we trading long-term satisfaction for feeling good now? Buying our present-day enjoyment at the cost of future meaning?

Source

So, what’s better, to be materially wealthy and unhappy or materially poor, but spiritually rich and happy?

Follow My Photoblog here and judge for yourselves:

Losing My Religion – Reformation To Blame?

 

Belief in God is slowly declining in most countries around the world, according to a new poll, but the truest of the true believers can still be found in developing countries, Orthodox and Catholic societies.

The “Beliefs about God Across Time and Countries” report, released 18 April 2012 by researchers at the University of Chicago, found the Philippines to be the country with the highest proportion of believers, where 94 per cent of Filipinos said they were strong believers who had always believed. At the opposite end, at just 13 per cent, was the former East Germany, Religion News Service reports.

“The Philippines is both developing and Catholic,” said Tom W. Smith, who directs the General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. “Religion, which is mainly Catholic, is very emotionally strong there.”

The report covered data from 30 countries that participated in at least two surveys in 1991, 1998 or 2008. In 29 of the 30 countries surveyed in 2008, belief increased with age: Belief in God was highest for those ages 68 or older (43 per cent), compared to 23 per cent of those younger than 28.

While overall belief in God has decreased in most parts of the world, three countries — Israel, Russia and Slovenia — saw increases. The report said religious belief had “slowly eroded” since the 1950s in most countries of the world.

The percentage of believers in the former East Germany is lower than anywhere else. Although, the after effects of the communist society in East Germany are still being felt all over Eastern Germany more than 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the main culprit of religious illiteracy there could only be found in the Reformation of Martin Luther, and in the self-worshiping materialistic ethic of Bismarck’s Prussia.

The six states that make up former East Germany which have the highest percentage of atheists (52 percent of respondents), compared with Western part of Germany, have all originally Protestant background. In Western Germany, predominantly Catholic, only 10.3 percent of those who responded were atheists.

“Countries with high atheism (and low strong belief) tend to be ex-socialist states and countries in northwest Europe,” writes study author Tom W. Smith. “Countries with low atheism and high strong belief tend to be Catholic societies, especially in the developing world, plus the United States, Israel, and Orthodox Cyprus.”

Yet, unlike East Germany, former communist states like Russia, Slovenia or China do have a growing numbers of Christian believers. In fact, China will be the largest Christian nation of the World in a couple of years.

So, what do atheist regions like East Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark all have in common? Protestantism and Prussian way of life.

 

Download the full report here

 

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