An American in Europe

I recently read a very interesting article about American-born and -raised Evan Edinger's eye-opening realizations after living abroad, so thought I'd share the piece here (Evan Edinger's Realizations).

I can definitely relate to many of the beliefs that he has also identified in the U.S. as accepted, unquestioned reality. He claims, "the more I began to notice all of the assumptions that I'd grown up believing in America, the things I was brought up to believe were undeniably true and just the way the world worked—it turns out they weren't true at all." I've précised his ideas here, but he gives a LOT more detail.

First on his list, and on mine, is the lack of ubiquitous access to guns in other countries, followed closely by the observation that "most [government] systems in Western Europe are far more effective than what I grew up believing was the 'best in the world.'"

Food quality is next on my list - the food supply in the U.S. is polluted with unnecessary additives, while Europe has very "different regulations regarding food quality, leading to a lot less additives and chemicals" in products. This might make them more expensive, but quality takes precedence.

America is lacking in universal healthcare (which means we don't have that incredibly "freeing social safety net" at our disposal), and a public transport network, nor does it provide access to places on foot (what Edinger calls walkability).

The other observations he makes are that consumer protections in Europe give "more rights to the everyday person over giant corporations, and to shared benefit over private"; that individual worker rights are prioritized "over than those with money or power" (28 days minimum paid holiday, one year paid maternity leave, two weeks paid paternity leave, sick leave, even the right against unlawful termination); and that money is not the sole metric of success since "the culture in Europe is work to live and not live to work."

He concludes with "Americans are taught to romanticize the U.S., and leaving it helps you see the reality, what's good about your country and where it has room for improvement." Edinger then claims that it's Mexican food and good ice cream he misses, not freedoms, rights, or better quality of life, as is usually surmised.

Food for thought ...