Some good news: we're happier than we think

If you paid attention to the on-line comments to the Ventura County Star, you'd conclude that we're a pretty cranky group out here in Ventura County. Today a story on a poll that ranked our area tenth in the nation in overall resident "well-being" drew almost universally negative comments.

Oh the irony.

Admittedly, the survey wasn't exactly the definitive word. The esteemed Gallup Organization conducted a whopping 353,000 landline and cellphone interviews in 2009 to prepare its ranking of 162 metro areas across the nation. Still, measuring collective "well-being" is, at best, a subjective exercise.

But not without some subjective value. After all, with all the gloom and doom about California, it is interesting to note that four of the top ten regions were here in the (formerly) Golden State.

Our area (Ventura/Oxnard/Thousand Oaks) ranked tenth overall in the nation, scoring strongly in four of the five categories that make up Gallup's index (doing particularly well in "work experience" and "healthy behaviors" and much better than average in "physical health" and "basic access" -- defined as "access to food and medicine, having health insurance and feeling safe while walking at night.") Perhaps it is telling that we were only average on the fifth element ("emotional health" which "measures a composite of respondents' daily experiences, including laughter, happiness, worry, anger and stress.")

One grumpy VC Star commenter opined: "I'd bet the county has moved down the list over the years. In the last 15 years, I've noticed the traffic is heavier, many companies have packed up and left, community events have been canceled due to lack of funds, the list goes on. The quality of life has NOT gone up as most would expect - if anything it has gone down . . ." So, all things being equal, this presumably causes us to laugh less, be more unhappy, worry more, get angry more often and experience greater stress than the next region up the list, which is Ogden Utah. Presumably traffic there hasn't grown since 1995, companies haven't left and local governments and non-profits are unaffected by the recession.

My favorite on-line comment was this howler: "I dare them to run the poll again on April 15th and see how California comes out . . . it would probably come in 57th out of the 57 states." Demonstrating that perhaps we have some ways to go in "schooling" when at least one angry local can't count the stars on the American flag.

More seriously -- the poll, whatever its flaws, highlights one indisputable theme: that whatever its flaws, Ventura County remains a comparatively terrific place to live. None of us should take this for granted. We have a lot of work to do to safeguard our natural environment, boost prosperity and work together on our common challenges. Still, its nice to have outside validation that we enjoy a remarkably high quality of life. Angry people can always find a reason to complain -- and an outlet for their venting. But it is well to remember they are far less statistically significant as a representation of the local citizenry than the folks who answered Gallup's survey.

Most of us are pretty grateful to be here in Ventura County.