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Where is the Most Peaceful Place on the
Planet?
A few years ago my wife and I spent three months in
New Zealand. We were struck by the beauty of the
country, the slow pace of life, and the
friendliness of the people. We had a wonderful
experience on December 21st, my birthday. My whole
life I’ve celebrated the shortest, darkest day
of the year. But in the Southern hemisphere, of
course, it’s the longest, brightest day of the
year.
We were walking downtown and had planned to have
dinner at a nice restaurant. It was late afternoon
and my wife said she wanted to do a little shopping
before the shops closed. I chuckled to myself and
thought, “It’s 4 days before Christmas.
The shops will be open late so they can collect the
last shopping dollar. She just needs some time away
from me.”
We agreed to meet at the restaurant and went our
separate ways. As it got close to 5:00 I was
surprised to see the shops closing. I couldn’t
believe it. This would never happen in the U.S.
When I asked a shopkeeper why they weren’t
staying open late to make more money, he looked at
me like I was a little daft. “We like spending
time with our families and friends,” he
informed me. “Have a nice day.”
Carlin and I had a wonderful dinner at a
beautiful restaurant in the South Island town of
Invercargill. We agreed that if there was anyplace
in the world we’d like to live, other than our
own little town of Willits, California, it would be
in New Zealand.
If you don’t live in Willits and are
looking for a beautiful and peaceful place to live,
you may want to consider New Zealand. It has been
rated as the most peaceful nation on Earth by
Vision of Humanity (www.VisionofHumanity.org), an
Australian-based research group that counts former
President Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner, and the Dalai
Lama among its endorsers.
After New Zealand, the top 10 most peaceful
nations are Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria,
Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland and Slovenia.
Where does the U.S. rank as a peaceful country?
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace
that rated the relative tranquility of 144 nations
according to 23 "indicators" --including gun sales,
the number of homicides, the size of the military,
the potential for terrorism and the number of
people in jail—we rank 83rd.
To get a better sense of exactly where the U.S.
fits in the peaceful scheme of things, we are less
peaceful than Senegal, Bolivia, and Ukraine (ranked
80, 81, and 82 respectively). But more peaceful
than Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Rwanda (ranked 84, 85,
and 86).
But if you thought that living in a peaceful
country was just good for men, women, children, and
other living things, you’d be wrong. It’s
also good for business. "Because they can work
better with others, peaceful countries can
constructively work together on solving some of our
most pressing economic, social and environmental
problems. Indeed, peace is the prerequisite to
helping solve today's major challenges, such as
food and water scarcity, decreasing biodiversity or
climate change," said Clyde McConaghy, a former
advertising director and business executive who
developed the index with entrepreneur Steve
Killelea.
"Peace is a concrete aim that can be measured
and valued, not just in social terms but in
economic terms. There is a clear correlation
between the economic crisis and the decline in
peace," Mr. McConaghy continued, adding that peace
tends to promote productivity and trade.
Given our present economic crisis, perhaps one
of the best things we could do in the U.S. to
stimulate the economy is to become more like New
Zealand and less like Iraq (the least peaceful
country of the 144 surveyed). Let me see, when was
the last time New Zealand invaded another country
to secure access to cheap oil?
©2023 Jed
Diamond
See Books,
Issues
+ Suicide
* * *
Wealth can't buy health, but health can buy
wealth. - Henry David Thoreau
Jed Diamond
is the internationally best-selling author of nine
books including Male
Menopause,
The
Irritable Male Syndrome: Managing. The 4 Key Causes
of Depression and
Aggression. and
Mr.
Mean: Saving Your Relationship from the Irritable
Male Syndrome. His
upcoming book, Tapping Power: A Man’s Guide to
Eliminating Pain, Stress, Anger, Depression and
Other Ills Using the Revolutionary Tools of Energy
Psychology will be available next year. For over 38
years he has been a leader in the field of men's
health. He is a member of the International
Scientific Board of the World Congress on
Men’s Health and has been on the Board of
Advisors of the Men’s Health Network since its
founding in 1992. His work has been featured in
major newspapers throughout the United States
including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall
Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and USA
Today. He has been featured on more than 1,000
radio and T.V. programs including The View with
Barbara Walters, Good Morning America, Inside
Edition, CBS, NBC, and Fox News, To Tell the Truth,
Extra, Leeza, Geraldo, and Joan Rivers. He also did
a nationally televised special on Male Menopause
for PBS. He looks forward to your feedback.
E-Mail.
You can visit his website at www.menalive.com
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