The European Dream

A friend sent me an article about a book called The European Dream. It reminded me of my deep yearning for a more humane lifestyle. How can so many people be satisfied with the dreary strip mall endless driving set-up we have here?

I wish that I could magically switch people into another person's life, like in Friday the 13th. I imagine switching George Bush with a young Iraqi mother, for just a month...

I recently saw a real life switch, of sorts, related to this article. My friend went to Italy for a month this summer. This friend and I used to talk about our future. She wanted a big house, and was fine with driving everywhere she needed to go, and basically wanted the typical consumable American dream. I, on the other hand, being a true hedonist, wanted a small house, easily maintainable yard, a co-housing like community and wanted to live where I could walk everywhere I needed to go in my daily life. Well, she came back from Italy very homesick... for Italy, where she lived in a small villa, walked everywhere she needed to go, and the shopkeepers in the stores knew her by name after just a month.

See, I'm profoundly convinced, [even of the Bushites, although I can hardly say it this soon after the HUGE disappointment!] that people are mostly good and mostly smart. I think most people would definitely prefer the European dream, they just haven't experienced what it could be like.