Sleepless Rambling

I read an interesting article about Iceland in one of the last issues of “The Week”. Actually it is a fragment from Eric Weiner’s book “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places In the World”, which was published in January, 2008 and I haven’t read.

In this particular piece the author visited Iceland (in the depth of winter and flying from Florida, no less) trying to figure out why it consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. After mentioning some obvious things about Iceland – the darkness, close (often genetically) relationships between people, a comfortable compactness of Reykjavik, he chooses to concentrate on exceptional creativity of the city and explores possible reasons behind it. He notices the same phenomenon that keeps awing me – there is no creative elite here, art is produced and enjoyed by everyone. From author’s conversation with Lárus Johannnesson, an owner of a small music store and a recording label, two other things surfaced – lack of envy and lack of a stigma to failure.

If there is no envy and you don’t afraid to fail, your create impulse goes into trying. Logical, yet, so hard to achieve.

Our backyard at four in the morning. In the absence of camera I use my cell phone and the photo turned out black and white.