Happiest states in the U.S.A.

Posted Saturday, December 19, 2009, at 12:21 AM

While looking at front page of "a Nashville newspaper", I noticed this article that states "Happiest states in America? Tennessee ranks fourth"...sounds great, right? Immediately under that headline were the following:

# In a ranking of the happiest states in America, Southern states rank high.

# Tennessee is worst in nation in funding anti-smoking programs for kids

# TN moves out of bottom 5 most unhealthy states to No. 44

# Tennesseans let cancer kill them

It seems to me that this "Nashville newspaper" isn't particularly happy about being in Tennessee.

Personally, I love it here and I'm glad to see that others do as well.

Why is it impossible for some people, particularly in the media, to just enjoy the good things without always looking for the negative side?

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Sorry, I meant to add the top 10. I don't know when this data was collected.

1. Louisiana

2. Hawaii

3. Florida

4. Tennessee

5. Arizona

6. Mississippi

7. Montana

8. South Carolina

9. Alabama

10. Maine

-- Posted by Thom on Sat, Dec 19, 2009, at 7:12 AM

Amen.

I think Tennesseans sometimes forget just how good we have it here. That may be especially true of natives like myself.

Recently, I started looking into places to retire. I wanted to take into consideration many things. At the top of my list of course was cost of living. Then came climate. Next was availability and quality of health care.

While doing my research, I found that Middle Tennessee ranked high in all of these catagories. I had to laugh aloud. Everything I was looking for in a retirment setting was within a few miles of my driveway.

Granted, it doen't seem very exotic to retire where one grew up. Still, all things considered, I feel fortunate to live where I live.

-- Posted by goose2008 on Sat, Dec 19, 2009, at 7:30 AM

I agree Thom . . I read that article the other day and was actually shocked at how many negative comments were posted. Sure, Tennessee has its negatives but its positives sure outweigh the bad. I have been to a few states myself and always found that I prefer the hospitality of Tennessee than any other state. To be honest, I have been to Florida a few times which ranks higher than our state and the waiters and employees of the various businesses that I have shopped at were not as friendly in general compared to those in Tennessee.

-- Posted by jaxspike on Sat, Dec 19, 2009, at 1:19 PM

I am a transplant having lived in several different states. I can honestly say I don't know where else I'd like to live. I love it here. There are a lot of things I don't necessary like, but when we are traveling and we cross the state line, I breathe a sigh of relief that we're back "home"...now, getting thru Nashville traffic to get home is a test of my patience, but some deep breaths and a few short minutes puts us back in the country.

-- Posted by neighborhood mom on Sat, Dec 19, 2009, at 7:18 PM

I would take Nashville's traffic anytime over Metro DC traffic. Imagine on a good day in rush hour taking 2 hours to get home when it is normally a 25 minute drive. Tennessee is wonderful, a ton better than the areas I have been to.

What I like about Tennessee, Better Air Quality, beautiful farm land, decent place for kids to have fun and see great places, great people with a caring heart, hard working people.

What I don't like about Tennessee, people that don't use their blinkers, poor traffic light timing, Right to Work.

-- Posted by Evil Monkey on Sat, Dec 19, 2009, at 10:57 PM

Well, I've spent time in both D.C. and Jacksonville, FL and I would take traffic here over either, even though I live 55 miles from my employer in Franklin.

Having grown up in West Tennessee (what my wife and I call the ugly part of the state) I have learned to really appreciate Middle TN. We're in the middle of everything here. We can go to Nashville when we want, Atlanta is only three hours away, Chattanooga (and Firehouse Subs) is only an hour and a half. We can go back home (both of our families are in Northwest Mississippi at this point) in just about five hours.

We spend a good bit of our time driving the back-roads around this area because we love the scenery around here.

-- Posted by Thom on Sun, Dec 20, 2009, at 12:43 AM

Thom Williamson

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