The extended 04 July gathering on my property went generally, and atypically, well. The attendees enjoyed each others' company, the never-ending chow and ale were good, and the herd of doggos and kittys tolerated each other.
Past the atrocities of the Southern California airspace and after diverting 40 miles south of the Phoenix Class B gaggle, things got quiet, so the niece and nephew started to babble as I took them back to their current homes. The niece asked if I had noted the 'plague' of cognitive dissonance. I (mistakenly) confessed my ignorance, giving my beloved and favorite school teacher the opening for a lecture. To condense her 45 minute treatise, all of my guests were searching for something better. To wit, is the grass greener on the other side of the fence; and can I get to the other side of the fence?
She was correct. The singular common characteristic for this crowd was that none wanted to talk about their job, but all, except my nephew and niece, desired to converse of another's profession.
The physicists wanted to talk to my niece about teaching in the public school system. My former jarhead friends wanted to talk to the physicists about some of the latest papers and wild-ass theories. The construction worker wanted to talk to my nephew about crunching big numbers and investment algorithms. An accountant wanted to talk to the plumbing contractor about construction projects. The construction contractor wanted to talk to my godson about small-unit tactics and weapons tech. My godson and his main squeeze (also a Marine) wanted to talk about anything other than jarhead-related subjects - mostly sex and beer.
I cooked the morning chow for a week (nobody died), played with the nearest doggy (or my wife), and listened to a good group of Americans. And on the night of 04 July, we watched the fireworks displays from two different cities viewable from the side of the chunk of granite my place sits on.
To be an American means that we can always seek something better; your opportunities may be limited for many reasons, but there is always the American concept that we can find something better. This is a mind-set that I have not seen in the Old Country among my relatives. And I have not found this mind-set to be common among Europeans. I have two guesses. One is that the EU has sufficient safety nets and a 'quality of life' that reduces the drive to find something better. The other reason is that Brussels has intentionally legislated out the ability to radically change your vocational pursuits.
Europeans, for all of their eccentricities (we all know that Americans have a perfectly normal range of behavior), I have found that the 'typical' EU denizen to be well-educated and literate. Whereas many Americans thrive on ignorance, but we are not stupid. Perhaps being smart and comfortable makes you stupid.