Better, or Just Different?

I'll begin this post with a simple disclaimer: I've never pulled an all-nighter, for any reason, until today. Because of the five hour time differences between the East Coast and the UK I was forced to keep my eyes open throughout my 6 hour flight and suffer the consequences. I am, for those that don't know already, not someone who fares well without sleep. Thus, my feet are really heavy, my vision is rather blurry--could be the contacts--and I'm rather irratable.

With all that aside, I'm in Scotland! It is, believe it or not, really nice here. The weather is warm, even warmer than Maine, things spell nice, and, well I love Scotland.

As I've said before, I'm living in a little village named Bridge of Allan, which is, for those of you familiar with Scottish geography, about 30 miles from Glasgow, 35 miles from Edinburgh, and right next to Stirling--the place where William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson) kicked major English ass in 1297.

This location will make for a lot of fun. It's close to two great cities, each with major attractions, which are both easily accessible by bus or train.

So, besides the sleep deprivation, and getting used to looking at traffic coming from the opposite directions, things have been great so far. Yet, there is one thing that has really made me think--when my brain/body can spare the energy. Life is so much simpler here.

As the title of this post reflects, my personal jury is still out as to whether this is actually better. But, in case ya'll want to ponder along with me, consider this.

1. All the cars are smaller. I mean, they are no trucks other than those used for delivering things. Most of the cars are those which would be considered "compact" or "sub-compact" in the U.S. Thus, there are no Hummers, no Expeditions, no F150s. People drive Focuses, small Audis, BMWs, etc. You get the picture. Why you ask? Well, gas costs around 1.5 pounds per liter! That means upwords of $7 a gallon. We would be committing suicide en masse if we had to deal with prices like this. Yet, because of the UK's place in the world economy, prices have been at this level for a long time. Thus, public transportation is utilized a lot, and people drive far less.

2. All the houses look the same. Granted, there are some that are bigger than others. But like Agrestic or Stepford, these houses make up an endless sea of brown stone, making equity a normaility.

3. Food is wicked expensive. As I was buying food today I noticed that everything in the grocery store is priced in pounds what I would expect to see at home in dollars. However, as we all know, the pound is about $1.67 these days. Thus, food is wicked expensive. Most striking is how expensivev fresh produce is. I'm guessing this has to do with the fact that the UK doesn't produce much domestic produce, and is forced to import from countries like Morocco and Egypt who charge exorbotent tariffs.

The bottom line is that people are much more humble here, and live far more simpler lives. This obviously has to do with the economic situation in the UK and throughout Europe, yet I wonder how much of it stems from pure culture.

We in America believe that we should be free to do whatever we like, especially make as much money as we possibly. Fine, that's capitalism. Yet, we do this at times without thinking about the situations of others. I won't be as bold as to speculate whether Scots genuinely care more for each other than Americans do, but having universial health care, more welfare benefits, etc. seem to push that point to be the case.

Are we just too self absorbed? Do we really care about our neighbors? Does the simpler life I see here make more sense, and if so is it ever attainable amid an exceptionalist America? These are all questions that bother me.

I know that this may be a very lenghthy post, but I'd really love to know what other people think. Feel free to chime in.

Until next time, cheers!