Bhutan crowns a new King
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
The Big Picture: Bhutan crowns a new King
The United States was not the only country to name a new leader this week. In Bhutan, an insular nation of about 600,000 people located high in the Himalayas, a new king was crowned. 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, an Oxford-educated bachelor, was crowned as Bhutan’s fifth king - now the world’s youngest reigning monarch. Bhutan also has the distinction of being the world’s youngest democracy - having held parliamentary elections last March for the first time ever. The young ruler vows to maintain a stance of protection against the worst aspects of globalization, maintaining the “Gross National Happiness”, a measurement of national progress that places a high value on spiritual development. Gross National Happiness is a term invented by, and proudly embraced by Bhutanese since 1972.
What a fantastic contrast with the US election. The images are spectacular.
I wasn’t quite sure where Bhutan was relative to Nepal so I used google maps. You can scroll this map around by dragging and zoom in and out with the + and - buttons to get a sense of relative place.
we’ll see what happens to the gross national happiness now that things are changing so much in Bhutan. I hope they are able to balance it all and still maintain those gorgeous smiles!
By the way, I feel like our own gross national happiness has gone up in the last week– too bad it has to come at a time when 250,000 people per month are losing their jobs…
sheryl: As Obama says, great challenges bring great opportunities. We keep our fingers crossed that he’s as successful at solving problems as President as he’s been running his campaign.
I’m hopeful because he seems to be taking partisan politics out of the equation.
Right now, the gross national happiness at our house is through the roof. Just had dinner with David Darling last night and his GNH is even higher.
I was really inspired when I went through those photos. The colors are amazing and a country with gross national happiness. 28 years old and Oxford educated, along with being the youngest monarch. Sounds like Bhutan has some interesting times ahead of it too.
The new king has such a great smile and charisma. I think he has a little Elvis look going on too :)
I agree Diana, the colors are simply amazing. We live in such a bland culture, don’t we?
In comparison, yah we really do. And I’m a sucker for soft earth tones.