"How can you buy and sell the sky and the earth. How do you buy the fresh air and sparkling water when we don't own it?
(omitted) The
earth
does not
belong to man, but the man belongs to the earth."
-Letter from Squamish Indian Chief Seattle (1854) to the President of the United States forcing the land to be sold (1854)-First-
time Finns ask with curious eyes how they
came
to Finland.
Each time my answer is, "It's a long story" (to tell you, it's a long story!).
It was because the journey to get to Finland was really very long.
From Turkey with a Finnish friend I met during my trip, I started terminating Europe.
It took him a month to get to his friend's hometown, Finland.
It was only a few hours away by plane, but it was a long run for a radio traveler.
On a lucky day, I was able to get a car and ride, but there were many days of marching more than 20 kilometers a day with a heavy backpack.
Sometimes they used inexpensive lodgings, but most of them set up tents in unknown forests and took a nap in the cold.
Was it because it was a country that arrived so difficult?
If you see that you haven't been able to leave for more than 20 years from where you arrived, saying,'Let's go, let's go', there seems to be something called fate.
The reason why I was able to follow my friend to Finland, far farther than Gangnam, was because I was able to camp, cook and eat wild berries freely in other lands.
At the time, I didn't think much about it, but the reason why this'treasure' was possible was because there was something called'everyman's right'.
'Everyone's right' refers to the right to free access to all land and water, regardless of whether'who owns it' or not.
It is currently applied in some European countries including Finland (Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic).
You can walk, run, bike and ride horses even if you are not the owner of the land.
Of course you can ski.
Fruits can be picked in any forest.
In lakes, rivers and seas, you can swim or go by boat.
In some countries, camping is also possible as long as it does not invade the privacy of the landowner.
Even nowadays as a Finnish resident, not a traveler to Finland,'Everyone's Rights' is helping me a lot.
This is because I can move in and out of Finland like my front yard.
Wild berries can be gathered in the nearby forest in summer and mushrooms can be eaten in autumn.
Hunting and gathering was an ancient way of life, but in Finland it is still a'hot''national hobby' in the 21st century.
The 180,000 lakes turn into swimming pools in summer and skating rinks or Nordic ski trails in winter.
Even if we do not go to an expensive sports center, nature generously gives our body throughout the four seasons, and we can use it to our heart's content.
Coco Chanel's cryptic proverb, "The best is free and the second is the most expensive," is the case.
'Land Disclosure' lies in the ground where'all people's rights' are allowed.
Land is a commodity that individuals buy and sell, but at the same time, it has the character of a public commodity as a part of nature.
Therefore,'public interest' must be considered in sharing, using, and transacting.
And the system in which this idea was realized is the'land public lease system'.
The source of unearned income is blocked by leasing public land owned by the state and local governments to the private sector.
Houses and apartments built in this way are inexpensive, so even ordinary people can easily realize their dreams of getting their own home.
Land can be leased for a long time from 30 to 100 years, and even if the rental period expires, appropriate compensation is paid, so you can build buildings with confidence.
Helsinki also builds and sells inexpensive apartments on land owned by the city government.
Named'Hitas', this municipal apartment began with consideration for those who had difficulty having their own home due to the high cost of apartments in Helsinki City.
It is very popular because it is often located in an area with good living conditions.
However, from the time of buying and selling an apartment, the maximum price has already been set.
It is to avoid making a profit by buying an apartment cheaply and selling it at a high price.
Not long ago, Finland was once again ranked as'the happiest country in the world' by the UN World Happiness Report.
It has maintained the undisputed No. 1 position for 4 consecutive years.
This ranking is somewhat different from the superficial and personal happiness index, such as how much fun you live or how much you laugh.
If ranked by such an index, Latin American countries, which are naturally optimistic, will rank higher.
However, the happy country selected by the UN is, on the contrary, a Nordic country full of icemen who live in a cold and dark barren environment and do not laugh easily.
The reason can be seen by looking at the criteria for calculating the happiness index.
There are six categories: gross domestic product per capita (GDP), social support, life expectancy, social freedom, tolerance, and corruption.
The criterion is not the happiness of dancing and smiling under the sun-lit palm trees, but the'acquired' happiness that can be enjoyed when living as a healthy citizen with the support of the government and society working properly in a place where basic rights are guaranteed.
Congenital happiness is difficult to imitate unless you are born with it, but acquired happiness can be benchmarked by anyone if conditions are met.
Through the'Happiness Report' that the UN has released every year since 2012, we will re-establish the definition and standards of happiness.
How about Korea, which is noisy due to the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) problem?
It was caught by construction employees who had to take the initiative to contribute to the public interest of the land while speculating on the land in pursuit of private interests using undisclosed inside information.
This is what happened in a country where the top 10% own 80% of the land, and 70% of the people have no land.
People were angry with the news, which flew into the current world, where the gap between rich and poor is widening depending on whether or not they own land and real estate.
And once again, I lost my trust in public officials.
The reason why'corruption' has become the main criterion in the UN happiness index is that there is a strong correlation between happiness and trust.
Research shows that people with high trust in government and people are happier than those who don't.
It wasn't just our land that LH employees took away.
They also ate our happiness index.
Perhaps because of that virtue (?), Korea has not escaped the 50th place in the Happy Country rankings again this year.
Even if we don't want'they' to contribute to our happiness, I would like to ask that we do not reduce the size of our happiness to be satisfied with only small convictions (small but certain happiness).
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