Kim Patria in Yahoo News reports that Filipinos, despite not being rich at all, are among the happiest people in the world, although marijuana has not yet been legalized I might add. The Philippines ranked 7 out of 148 countries according to US pollster Gallup which conducted phone interviews with 1,000 people throughout the world or 3 people in each country who happen to own phones.

Respondents were asked if they had a good time the day before and if they felt respected, well-rested, laughed a lot, or did or learned something interesting.

85% had felt respected, 72 had laughed a lot, 73% had fun and 72% had slept well regardless of their economic circumstances.

Now if those aren't the symptoms of smoking grass, those were twisted Marlboro sticks being passed off as grass when we were young.

The answer may lie in the last question: did you do anything or learn anything interesting yesterday. Only 43% said they did. The rest are either lazy good for nothings or the 43% are first time smokers. Regular smokers continue to find the experience enjoyable, but it does tend to be repetitive.

If you are happy with no good reason to be, you and your country will never get anywhere. Ever watch Japanese Smurai, American western or German Nazi movies? Everyone is serious if not scowling and they conquered the world.

However, it is possible the reason so many of us laugh so hard that it hurts is because of the sort of people we keep electing.

Keep well.