Happiness comes from buying and consuming if you believe the advertisements, from beauty and fame, if you believe the celebrity press. If you are a politician, or a journalist, it’s the growing economy.

Action for Happiness commissioned a poll in the U.K. and this is what it found: 87% of all adults preferred the ‘greatest overall happiness and wellbeing’, only 8% preferred ‘greatest overall wealth’. When asked about the three changes that would most increase their happiness and wellbeing ‘my relationship with my partner/family’ came our first with 80%; ‘my health’ came out second with 71%. ‘My money and financial situation’ came a distant third with 42%; only 4% picked ‘my possessions’ and ‘my appearance’. The lesson: most people prefer a happier rather than a richer society – “we should spend less time focusing on the size of the economy and more time to help people live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives”.

And yes, today is the U.N.’s International Day of Happiness!

The lesson for me is that my intuition and Pádraig’s friends are right; frustrated consultants, power-hungry politicians, competitive health-service economists are wrong. When will the ever learn?

Today, Pádraig had three visitors from Ireland. And again, what a contrast between these young people, full of energy, humor, hope, dignity, common sense, love, and compassion, and what I have got to know as the establishment dealing (or rather *not* dealing) with Pádraig’s condition and that of his compadres. Really, I cannot wait for Pádraig’s friends to take over the country and I hope it’ll happen sooner rather than later! I’d trust these 20-something-year-olds and their sense of right and wrong any day.

The man himself was really alert and good today. Squeezing hands, lifting up his right arm, cooperating really well with his oral hygiene.

One really fantastic detail I forgot to tell when I was writing about the GCS. Nurses, doctors, and consultants who were quite negative about Pádraig’s chances to get better in the US and in Ireland (therefore representing one of these ‘bad investments’ – as if we were dealing with bad banks instead of with sick people!!!), all noted that when they were shining a light into his pupils, they did not contract, they did not react, they did not move. Well, according to his doctor, they now do. Keine Frage. Überhaupt gar keine Frage!

Interesting case of man with brain damaged who is pleading with the HSE to allow him leave Beaumont Hospital and go home. Another interesting case at the European Court of Justice and the HSE’s withdrawal of cover for a man in a German Hospital: ECJ Advocate General says HSE not entitled to end treatment funding for quadriplegic Irishman in Germany.

Finally, check out the special edition of The Late Debate on RTE Radio 1 with Cormac Ó hEadhra allowing us to tell Pádraig’s story (from last Tuesday, 18 March 2014). We were quite disappointed by the lack of engagement at a human level by the panel; there was a sense of resignation and resort to ‘strategic plans’ that we have heard about so often by now. They do not really offer any viable solutions to fix “this broken health system”, for which “we” are certainly not to blame, as suggested by one of the panelists.

Seochtain had another article on Pádraig yesterday.

Today is day 10 of our wait for the contact “without delay” by James Reilly’s Department of Health requested by the Taoiseach.

Today’s German Music Tip
Jan Delay, Liebe (07 March 2014). – One of Germany’s coolest singers with his latest song to be published on 11 April 2014)`
“Ich hab’s Euch hundertmal gesagt: das iss ‘ne Rockplatte!!!” (02:00)
“So viel Liebe für Hamburg…” (02:10)

What’s hot
ECJ
What’s cold
HSE
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Pustekuchen!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org