Changing geography

Traveling overseas for an extensive period of time gives one time to pause and reflect: on the foibles of man in general, and one's own country in particular.

Moving from Paris, France to Winter Harbor, Maine is naturally going to be a culture shock of no insignificant proportion. But then so was moving from Florence, Italy to Paris. It's only a matter of distance really. One moves from one milieu to another and looks for the tools to adjust.

The real shock comes of course from finding ourselves in the United States once again, a truly wondrous country whose people seem to have lost their way: fear and sensationalism bracketed by a fierce determination to avoid dealing with the realities of a world very much in flux.

Yet in some ways little has changed in the US: cars are still huge and the so are the people -- two phenomena that continue to perplex and confuse us (and many Europeans as well I might add). Someone suggested to me recently that she thought it is the sheer amount of space we have here that allows us to fill up that space with little thought to the quality.

I don't know.

What I do know is what I see and that isn't pretty.

Driving across a third of this country recently I was struck with how much space has been simply and seemingly irremediably misused and abused. Now the Europeans, the French and Italians in particular, certainly have their problems, both within the context of their respective societies and how they treat their land. No question about it.

But it is our increasing social fragmentation infecting the United States that strikes us as the most profound of differences. And these fractures are most pronounced in America's sacred reliance on the automobile. Outside of a handful of big cities no one really walks anywhere.

In Paris one walks out of the apartment and within a 30-minute radius passes numerous cafes, butcher hops, pastry shops, bakeries, gardens and of course people from all walks of life. A simple stroll through the Jardin du Luxembourg on a Sunday afternoon brings one into direct contact with people of all ages, shapes, sizes, colors and form all walks of life, out enjoying the sunshine, the flowers, just being alive.

Elitism and class distinctions certainly exist in Europe, and France is certainly no stranger to such attitudes.

But nowhere in the United States does one find such commingling together, even if for a short period of time, and with such ease. All different types of people lined up together, sitting side-by-side, watching the world slip by one person at a time. Amazing. It is just the normal thing to do.

Such a thing is a rare commodity in the United States. But for the average Frenchman or Italian it is, well, the way things are. And they are that way for a reason. It keeps people together in ways that sociologists are probably still trying to figure out -- but it seems to work.

On a somewhat different note, we couldn't help but notice what lousy drivers so many Americans are. Everything from hogging the left lane with no concern for anyone else to shooting at other drivers in a fit of rage are attitudes simply unknown in Europe. Perhaps it is because American drivers are the most regulated and restricted drivers in the world, I don't know, but one has to wonder.

Indeed we pride ourselves on being so free in the United States and yet we are incredibly regulated and restricted in our behavior. We haven't suffered the bureaucratic nightmares of some countries (think Italy here folks) but for some odd reason we almost act as if we had.

I remember vividly the bumper stickers often seen on cars in the late 1960s and early 1970s that read "America: Love it or Leave it." I simply do not understand such blinkered thinking. What did that solve? Nothing. Oh but It made the person behind you in line feel good. Not unlike the absurd security procedures found at America's airports today. Terrorists are caught through good intelligence and competent police work not by strip searching 80-year-old grandmothers. But how many Americans do you known would say "but it makes me feel safer." These are usually the same people who justify their huge SUVs as saying "well it's safer to the kids" or "it's more comfortable for the kids."

we have observed how Americans seem to have lost their sense of anger toward the stupid mistakes, lies and unnecessary fears and hatreds generated by their own government, but are quick to feel feel resentful toward each other. More fracture, more fragmentation.

Divide and conquer. That's the watchword of so many politically savvy people today it seems.