I struggle sometimes to find things to write about without bitching. Without complaining about what things are wrong, or what things could be better. Because nobody wants to read about how good I have it, do they? Or maybe they do, but I’ve never been one to brag. We bond over our shared bad experiences; we relate to each other. It makes us one part of the great human struggle. It connects us.

Is it ignorant to acknowledge the times when life is good? I know of course it’s not. It takes entirely too much energy to be cynical all the time. And I don’t even want to be that kind of person. But then, is it foolish to be ignorantly blissful all the time? Is it negligent of the things that could and should be fixed in our world. Of course it is.

So we try to find balance. Balance, I think, is the key to life.

All of this is common sense, I know. I’m just rambling.

On a completely different tangent, today is the birthday of my cousin I grew up with, Michelle. She was my very first best friend. She still lives in Toledo and I talk to her maybe once a year, at Christmas if she comes over to my family’s dinner. She just had a baby, I hear.

Isn’t it odd how we let people go from our lives, as we move away, get older, busier. There is only room or time enough for so many, and we sacrifice some to make room for others. Or so it seems. Many times I know I’ve been the one sacrificed to make room for someone more fun, more intriguing, more appropriate at the time. It happens, I guess.

And that’s not a complaint, not really. It’s just the way things are.

I’m going to see Coldplay in 25 days

The tickets were $95 each, for lawn seats. I’ve never spent that much on concert tickets before, so it better be fun!

My husband, being the cynical Brit that he is, wonders about the American patriotic arrogance. He wonders why there is an American flag outside every home and building. What is our deal with the flag? I didn’t know we were arrogant (and I bet a lot of us don’t notice) because I’ve never lived anywhere else in the world, but he tells me that other countries don’t act like we do. In fact, other countries hate us for the way we are. Or at the very least, have no respect for us.

Oprah did a show last week (and again, you know I’ll believe anything Oprah tells me) about the lives of 30 year-old women around the world. All my life I’ve been told that America is the best place to live in the whole world. That is what they teach us in school, that we’re smarter and richer and better off than any other people. Of course because of this, I’m always a little surprised to find out that women in other parts of the world really don’t have it that bad. People in Kuwait get a free college education through their Bachelors degree, and couples get a wedding gift of $12,000 from the government. People in France have an enforced 35-hour work week and five weeks of mandatory paid vacation. They take two-hour lunch breaks and naps in the afternoon. Can you imagine forcing some American caffeinated corporate drone to stop for five seconds and breathe?

There are trade-offs, I’m sure. Every country has its good and its bad. And there are some awful places to live, I’m sure. But in other countries, great countries, the people don’t have their flags on their cars and homes, or write songs about how they’re proud to be Canadian or Australian or French or whatever. They just don’t, and they all think it’s weird that we do. The rest of the world thinks that Americans are self-centered, arrogant, fat, lazy, and we work too much. They are not envious of us - not at all.

So let’s entertain the idea that maybe America isn’t the best of all places in the world to live. (more…)