It takes a true artist or someone who has had a lot of practice to master the art of living in a way that smooths out the ups and downs. There are a lot of things that go into the mix – and while a human being has some control over their perception of every situation he faces, some perceptions may border on denial – and where does that put one? Maybe denial is an effective tool. Or maybe it’s a dead-end street. What about when it comes to a whole country; a whole society? How’s that going?
Americans are striving to pay bills, striving to get ahead, striving to get their work done, striving to do a good job – while Europeans, especially in the Southwestern part of the continent, are seeking pleasure, planning for pleasure, are actually immersed in environments that make finding pleasure quite obtainable – while they get things done. In the city I am in, Barcelona, which is similar to other mid-to-large European cities, virtually everyone is within walking distance of parks, trees, fruit stands, bakeries, vegetable markets, coffee shops, sidewalk terraced cafes, bike lanes, medical facilities, libraries, supermarkets, public town squares, fountains, playgrounds, comfortable public chairs, public benches, spots to relax and watch their kids fool around with other kids, bars, schools, dance studios, yoga centers, art material shops, clothing stores, mass transit of several types: busses that come every 5 minutes and connect you with every part of town, subways/metros that carry you very quickly to every part of town, and to nearby train stations that can take you all over the country and the continent. Add to these “down the street and next door” venue benefits that accrue to every citizen – public bicycles for free or a very small fee, clean water, free medical care, clean beaches, clean water at the beaches, regulated food distribution to guarantee safety; restaurant ordinances and inspection to ensure safe food, police officers of all colors and genders who are nice, who are polite, who follow required procedures, who will not kill you; schools that do not have to have regular drills to implement procedures for killers with semi-automatic military style assault weapons, people who generally are not worried about where their next meal will come from, who have an abundant amount of recreation and numerous opportunities for social interactions, people who do not need a car, nor car insurance, nor car registration, nor car repairs because they simply don’t need a car because of all the transportation opportunities available to them; people who are pleasant and likely to offer a smile or assistance, or will ask you to go first – who are not preoccupied with all of the responsibilities they have. Their society helps them with some of the needs that one may have in the course of the day. It is a place where a young person can “become all he/she is capable of becoming” because education is free. Yes, college is free. Students don’t have outstanding loans of between $50,000 and $400,000. And babies – what is best for a baby? To be taken to a costly institution a month or two after being born? Or, having an opportunity to get used to their home and their family? In Europe babies have that opportunity to stay home for an extended period for important bonding and emotional support. In the US childcare has become like sending your kids to an expensive university. And at the same time parents often face high costs of taking care of their own parents who are aged. In the US there are capable youth who don’t even think of continuing their education because they cannot afford the high costs, or they were in underfunded public schools that were being neglected in order to transfer funds to private schools that the privileged were already able to pay for. In the United States homes and apartments are located away from shops and public venues. There is an idea that this results in a quieter life away from shops and public services. It results in the necessity to have a car to get to shops, and most public venues. This philosophy which is played out in a residential/commercial tradeoff is what Henry Miller describes as the “air-conditioned nightmare.” A situation where the technology and organization seems superior but where the zest for life is blunted, confused, misunderstood, and missing.
How can Europe pull this off? They don’t have a massive global military-industrial complex to support. In Europe policymakers don’t have to view foreign relations as a need to find an enemy to justify the existence of large standing armies, super-expensive weapons of mass destruction, a continuous revenue stream to please owners and stockholders. Europeans are not saddled with an oil and gas industry that sucks the lifeblood out of their soil and out of the pockets of its citizens. Oil and gas is more expensive in Europe – which promotes a modern mass transportation infrastructure. European citizens are not paying taxes to subsidize oil and gas and it has strict regulations to protect the environment. The oil and gas oligarchs of America buy legislators and judges to protect what is a sweet deal – very little regulation of the oil and gas industry, government subsidies – plus the reality that these corporations and oligarchs pay very little in taxes, if any.
The US has become a bully that is allowing its citizenry to sink into an environment that is unhealthy and full of worry. Corporations exhibit many examples of the nickel and diming of the American people – hidden fees, surprise charges, banking tricks, credit card interest rates and penalties that go through the roof and steal from a family’s ability to support their children. American citizens subsidize corporations such as Walmart due to the need for many Walmart employees to register for food stamps, Section 8 housing, and sometimes welfare – all paid by the US lower middle and middle class.
Just a few people own all the mass news media which controls the messages that Americans are fed on a daily basis. A few billionaires own more wealth than half of the population of the country. The ignorant are fed talking points day after day – and many sense that they are, in fact, lucky citizens of “the greatest country in the world.” The US, as a society is in ill-health, but the symptoms are vague enough and creep up on people slowly enough to remain seemingly unrecognizable. If you’re a citizen of a country that does not fall in line with the goals of our oligarchs, we can bomb you – and if you are a young American person who is looking for a role to play, we can send you to do the oligarch’s work on the other side of the globe and tell you that you are a hero in part through having Fox News play 24 hours a day in the mess halls and barracks – but we won’t take care of you once you come home with serious life-changing wounds or psychological problems that erase your ability to be an effective father or a cooperative family member or worker.
gregswimelar 