Dammit… While I was typing my words of wisdom, trying to spell my way through my second language, at least two people beat me to it and described my point in fewer words and in more eloquent language, than I ever could.
Dammit… Not being unique! ’scuse me for wishing for magical abilities ;)
Latanius I do agree with your small world idea, although not explicitly stated in my first comment, I have thought about it. Actually the people I mentioned earlier who studied the “science of happiness” pointed out that the relative happiness have many different boundaries. We measure ourselves up against our immediate vicinity, the small world that we inhabit. We can’t really imagine how an african with AIDS and lifethreatening hunger might feel and thus can’t really use it to make ourselves any happier. In comparison I can feel much happier if im more well off than my brother or sister (Not that I would enjoy that without sharing, but it would definately make me feel good both to have money and be able to share them with those whom I love).