addendum to what I said yesterday

I've been thinking a lot about what I said yesterday, and I've gotten a lot of responses on the subject. I wanted to maintain that what I said was purely conjecture, as I truly have not made up any opinion about the two countries yet. I love my country, and I think that in a lot of ways, countries like France are able to "care so little," maybe, about things like technological advances or the development of new things because other countries like America and Japan, highly capitalistic countries, do it for them. I mean, when was the last time a good invention came out of Europe? I can't think of any off the top of my head. So, because of the cultural atmosphere in the United States, the "gold medal or bronze medal" approach, the "make it or fall flat" approach, yes there is a lot more stress, yes there is a highly materialistic (in general) mindset, but it also allows us to kind of... see humanity to its fullest. We invented Google, Apple, Microsoft, a lot of modern medical technology, scientific discoveries and social initiatives, and I think still, and probably always will, that our government, in theory, run for the people and by the people, is by far the best system out there. My only big point in yesterday's blog was to address all of the things about European lifestyle that I really liked, and how, maybe if I don't want to live in a society that is "either gold medal or bronze," with very little room for someone to have a silver medal and be content with that, I could always move to a country where the bulk of people had silver medals, and everyone was okay with that.

I hope this clears some stuff up. I have come to the conclusion that both societies work for their respective citizens, and I think, if nothing else, I have found that there are a lot of points of view in French culture that I hope I keep with me for the remainder of my life, things that I think will benefit me a lot in the long run, things that I hope to take back with me and incorporate into my life because I think ultimately that Europe is too european and American is too american, and maybe the best person is the one who finds the balance in both.