Last year I wrote about the neighborhood rock snake. People find joy where they can, I wrote then, even if it means hand-painting a rock to share with neighbors.

At the time, the rock snake was home to 97 painted rocks.

On Wednesday, it consisted of 679 painted rocks.

No less than 679 times, one person or another took the time — without fanfare — to select a rock, paint it and add it to the rock snake.

Many of the designs show talent, originality and a sense of humor. “Sometimes I slow down and look at each rock,” said one morning walker.

What we learn from this is that people continue to find pleasure in small things, and they seek joy and a sense of community in ways that may seem silly if you happen to believe that the external world is all sweetness and light.

But other folks wonder if the dark clouds generated by politics, doom scrolling and popular culture will go away before our country comes apart.

And so they paint rocks and hope for the best.

There is something amiss in our country, and we need to fix it while there is still time. The Pew Foundation discovered that the United States was the only country where a majority of people (53%) believe their fellow citizens are ”morally bad.”

Karen Swallow Prior, a Christian author who writes about morality, talked to the Washington Post: “Almost every moral issue has become politicized. We have two parties that cannot and will not work with one another and demonize one another, so it’s not surprising at all that our perception of one another’s goodness would be so low.”

It isn’t surprising, is it? We’ve witnessed all the ways our politics has become more divisive and poisonous.

By comparison, 7% of Canadians believe their fellow citizens are immoral. You think Canadians are more than seven times more moral than Americans?

I don’t either.

But Americans, especially young Americans, are not happy. Using data from the Gallup World Poll, social scientists at the World Happiness Report concluded that the United States ranks 23rd, behind a bunch of countries with less of everything except what matters. Researchers blamed stress, economic anxiety, loneliness and the rise of social media.

Almost three in five Americans believe the country’s best days came and went, according to a Pew Foundation survey. “On the Country’s 250th Anniversary, the American People Are in a Sour Mood,” said the headline.

The gloom felt by young people testifies to salaries that can’t keep pace with the cost of living. We live, after all, in towns full of million-dollar houses, places where some baby boomers act surprised that young people can’t afford to buy a house. Those same boomers tend to forget they paid a fraction of what their houses are now worth.

Young people also tend to have fewer resources, and they tend to spend more time on social media. The World Happiness Report for 2026 focuses on the ways unhappiness correlates with the isolation associated with digital media.

“Beyond the complexity, it is clear that we should look as much as possible to put the ‘social’ back into social media,” said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, an Oxford professor of economics and an editor of the World Happiness Report.

Are people seeking moments of joy to escape politics, computer screens, or both?

You have your own answer. Whatever the motivation, the growth of so-called analog choices is real.

I spend time trying (with limited success) to draw. I own a turntable and vinyl records.

I read old-fashioned books (though not always).

I buy fountain pens, artist’s pencils, watercolors, sketchbooks.

But I live with the irony that comes from reading about analog options on the internet. I’m writing this column on my laptop.

Many of us, I suspect, find ourselves with one foot in each world — which may help explain why we take the time to paint a rock or otherwise seek out moments of joy.

There’s a reason that so many people make note of their blessings. Expressions of gratitude provide moments free of stress and worry. Being grateful even extends life expectancies, according to the people at the Harvard School of Public Health.

There’s a reason, too, that so many sources serve up ideas and moments worth celebrating. People are encouraged to find “one good thing.”

It might even be a painted rock.

As Americans, we like to think our country is exceptional. By most measures, we are the most affluent country in the world. But there’s nothing exceptional about ranking 23rd in the world when it comes to being happy. Something is wrong, and we need to figure out what it is.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.