I’ve engaged in this debate before, but anyone who doesn’t see that Europe is so much culturally richer, and healthier, than the US is missing that culture is fundamentally built on communities, and on the social.

When most people talk about Europes culture legacy, and superiority, they point to cathedrals, museums, and such

But it’s not about the physical (although that makes the stage more dramatic), it’s about the work/life balance. About third spaces that encourage being around people, in a way that’s deeper than transactional.

US is about the individual, to a hyper degree. Everyone is emancipated from everything, freed from obligations into an empty loneliness.

It’s depressing to come back to. Communities of one, all trying to figure out why life feels empty.