Ehhhhhhhhh

I am in Europe and the average European clearly lives better than the average American in every metric possible.

I lived in a very noisy Latino/a neighborhood in Virginia.

It was terrible.

No walkability.

No basic services (or they were so obscure or obtuse and not readily available that people didn’t know about them).

Racism, sexism, transphobia, etc.

Nobody knew their neighbor or recognized anyone.

Just… insufferable.

Everybody was pissed off or mentally ill (I hate the term “mentally ill,” but they were very depressed and had a lot of, I would argue, “psychological damage,” never mind the trauma, which I would argue is somewhat separate).

I am in Spain, which is technically better than most European countries, but of course, has multiple problems, true enough.

But truth be told: I cannot fathom Virginia or even the wider United States being better than Spain by any metric whatsoever.

Idk. Maybe a mental block for me at this point.

To be fair, a good Greek comrade once told me that “Greece is America in 5 years.”

I do get the sense that Europe is headed that way.

But honestly, for the time being, in most places, it seemed better than the United States, imho