Reference no: EM132549363

Buettner sees a large difference in the makeup of Asians as opposed to Americans.

"For Asians, striving for personal happiness appears to be a vaguely impolite and selfish concept that falls somewhere near the bottom of a list of lifetime goals.

For Asians, the individual exists only in the context of his family and community. The individual is not separate. He is often driven toward perfection, but not for personal gain as much as to live up to societal expectations, and to make his mother proud" (114).

What do you strive for in terms of achieving happiness? How do you strive to achieve happiness on a personal level? On a family level? On a societal level? What does how you strive to achieve happiness personally, familial, and societal say about you as a person? How does how you strive to achieve happiness differ from how Asians strive for personal and family happiness?