A view in the older part of Amsterdam
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
We moderns are a spoiled lot.\u00a0 At least, I am.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I write, I\u2019m sitting in the Salt Lake Airport waiting to board a flight to Helsinki, Finland, by way of Amsterdam.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take me several hours, during which time I\u2019ll be sitting almost the whole way.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m dreading it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t be sleeping in steerage with a hundred other passengers.\u00a0 The food will passable, if not altogether great.\u00a0 We won\u2019t be facing day after day of North Atlantic storms.\u00a0 We probably won\u2019t hit an iceberg and sink.\u00a0 Barring catastrophe, the odds of my arriving safely and in good health are excellent.\u00a0 Moreover, while I\u2019ll be based in Finland, I\u2019ll also make a fairly quick trip to Estonia.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be back home in the western United States, if all goes according to plan, sometime relatively early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll very likely enjoy myself.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, right now, as is usual with me on such trips (even when they\u2019re for vacations, which this one is not), I\u2019m wondering what on earth I\u2019m doing.\u00a0 I never enjoy the prospect of long flights.\u00a0 But I sometimes think to myself, \u201cWhat would my ancestors say?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t they consider me a wimp?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wonder what they would make of the comfort in which we live, of the speed with which we travel, of the variety of foods and cuisines that we routinely enjoy (if we\u2019re so inclined).\u00a0 It would have seemed miraculous to them.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be able to keep in almost instantaneous contact with my wife and family and with others, when I want to do so.\u00a0 By contrast, when my paternal grandmother left her home in Norway at the age of eighteen \u2013 not terribly far from Finland, really \u2013 she never saw her parents or most of her siblings again, and such communication as there was took weeks, at best.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Curiously \u2013 and I don\u2019t mean to minimize the gravity of the matter, nor to make light of or dismiss very real pain \u2013 our rates of suicide and depression seem to be exceptionally high and, in some cases, rising precipitously.\u00a0 Here we are, the most comfortable, most pampered, most mobile population in human history, and many are unhappy.\u00a0 Many are angry.\u00a0 There is, I think, a lesson to be learned from that.\u00a0 There are probably several<\/em> lessons to be taken from it.\u00a0 Very obviously, material comfort, while desirable, isn\u2019t enough.\u00a0 Abundant food, while necessary, isn\u2019t sufficient.\u00a0 Something else is needed.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Postscript:\u00a0 Owing to internet difficulties in the Salt Lake Airport \u2013 nobody else seems to have been experiencing them, but I certainly was \u2013 I wrote the above but couldn\u2019t post it there. \u00a0As it turns out, I <\/em>did make it to Europe.<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Amsterdam, The Netherlands<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 We moderns are a spoiled lot.\u00a0 At least, I am. \u00a0 As I write, I\u2019m sitting in the Salt Lake Airport waiting to board a flight to Helsinki, Finland, by way of Amsterdam.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take me several hours, during which time I\u2019ll be sitting almost the whole way. \u00a0 I\u2019m dreading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Amsterdamer](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/06\/800px-Channel_Amsterdam.jpg\")
<\/a>