In series eight of the forever-on-our-screens sitcom Friends, an irritated Phoebe complains to her relentlessly perky and happy date, played by Alec Baldwin: "You're like Santa Claus on Prozac! At Disneyland! Getting laid!"
But while Baldwin does possess a happy twinkle in his eye, and Disneyland through a haze of antidepressants sounds fun, Phoebe's formula for happiness was not conclusive. And so the New York Times asked Gallup, which has been conducting a wellbeing survey for the last three years, to draw up a composite for the happiest person in America. Using a formula called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Gallup identified a statistical hypothesis: male, tall, Asian-American, an observant Jew, at least 65 years old, married with children, and a business owner with a household income of more than $120,000. He also had to live in Hawaii, the happiest state in the US.
When the New York Times called three synagogues in Hawaii to see if the hypothetical could actually be a reality, their search yielded one perfect fit: Alvin Wong, 69, a 5ft 10in kosher-keeping Chinese-American Jew, married to Trudy Schandler-Wong for 35 years, father to two grown-up children and founder of two healthcare management businesses. It is not known if he has ever been to Disneyland.
Wong has been receiving emails from friends across the world since the newspaper identified him. He confirmed that he is indeed a happy person, and shared a few tips on happiness, as learned from his mother, who believed that "you don't do things just for money, you do things because you want to do them and you love to do them. This is what is going to make you get up in the morning."
Wong, who converted to Judaism, said religion had humbled him, and spoke of the support from his wife and family, adding: "My wife and I have always surrounded ourselves with young people."
But the bottom line seems to be the ability to not take life too seriously. "You need to interject humour into your life. If you can't laugh at yourself then life is going to be very hard on you."
Which probably explains why, when the New York Times first called him, he quipped: "This is a practical joke, right?"
