And clearly, the more life turns to extremes, art seems to follow. Take music for example; we are currently applauding gangsters for displaying their criminality in their songs. Directly connected to life getting tougher while we are all growing more individual by the week? Wouldn’t know, do you?

We are not designed to live in a dense city. We do not like only having a small amount of space to put our stuff (as George Carlin aptly calls it), and we certainly do not like for other people to stand in our way. Be it on the street, in a mall (where it is to be expected though) or even in a bar where we go to meet people. We are often annoyed by people we don’t know.

Which is exactly the reason why! We don’t know those people, but we share a living environment with them. I think we can safely say most of our subconsious urges and inner-body workings come from a time where the earth wasn’t crowded and we certainly did not live stacked on top of eachother. We did live with other people though, we lived in tribes that could be very big from time to time. But these were people we felt kindred to, and most of  the time actually were. In later times, we felt connected through a common religion or by sharing a small part of history together if you lived in a town for 50 years. Nowadays, we have no ties to the people around us and we should thank whatever lord you wish for etiquete.

Because if we weren’t taught to lie innumerable times a day, if we would always speak our mind or act immediately. Things would quikly turn sour, very sour. Have you ever thought of the reason why people start looting immediately when there’s a riot? I imagine its because all other reasoning falls away and people think straightforward to what they desire most, to have it all.

It is a blessing that we are taught to think from the point of view of others, it saves us all from a lot of trouble. But would it be true to say that in an living environment as dense as a major city, people should think from the perspective of the others they encounter, not their own? By living this close to eachother, we should start to think as one organism, not as individuals.

The Dutch attitude seems extremely lacking when it comes down to simply enjoying life. 

Every time I return from Spain I notice my outlook on life has changed a little bit, and this keeps happening to me over and over again. My newfound appreciation for daily life and its events slowly fades to a background while I get sucked in the negative energy most Dutch people portray. 

As and example I will tell you something that actually happened to me often enough for it to become significant. When I go out of the house, I try and take good care of my outward appearance. This is very important to me, not just to feel good about myself, but also to state to myself that the day or activity I am about the emerge myself in is worth it. When I do this to go partying, most often, when talking to girls you do not know, they will ask me why I am dressed up, did I just finish work?  When in the same situation in Spain, the most common remark would be that they appreciate the way I dress/look good.

Obviously the point of this example is not to convey that I dress well, look good, or want to be flatttered more while in the Netherlands. The point would be that both girls notice my appearance, but where the Spanish girl would give her remark a positive twist, a Dutch girl would do the exact opposite. My personal opinion would make that this is caused by the Dutch attitude towards being remarkable, most Dutch people think that blending in and belonging is the situation to strive for. We actually have a saying for it; “Je kop boven het maaiveld steken”, which roughly translates to “Sticking your head above the field of crop” Or they could use the even more negative “craving for attention”.

My frustration is this; people should not worry all the time about what they are supposed to do or look like. If all people would start making their descisions based on what makes them happy, I think a lot of the problems we have today would become absolete. 

Any thoughts yourself, you know where to find the comments!