Quote:
Originally Posted by DixieGal
In the US, our richest live in over-the-top mansions that are poor imitations of what Europeans have had for centuries. Many towns in Europe have churches that date from before Columbus, heck, before even the Vikings came here. Our government buildings are imitations of those buildings. Our oldest and most cherished traditions are only a couple hundred years old. Visitors from Europe aren't impressed with our historical sites, but just take them to Huntsville, Houston, or Cape Canaveral to see the space age, and they go ga-ga. The only thing we can bring to the world is NEW! IMPROVED! WOW!
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Not exactly true... I've seen some very impressive historical sites. And I'd love to see more. But it's very hard to maintain a historical site. You need to make sacrifices. Often, when an old building is no longer of use (or really outdated), it will be torn down, instead of being restored to its old splendor.
In the village where I live, there is this old farmhouse. It doesn't comply with any modern building standard (isolation? what's that? electricity as it was when it was first inserted, after the house was already built, old copper water pipes, etc). The easiest and cheapest way to get it up to modern standards would be to tear it down and rebuild it. But the current owners are completely renovating it (they're busy on the roof now). The only thing that will keep standing will be the outer wall (and the basic structure of the roof). This takes huge amounts of time (they're already working on it for over 3 years, and no end date in sight yet), but when they're done, it will look like the time will have stopped. (a lot of people don't have that patience, and would tear it down anyway...)
(oh, and I'd love to see Cape Canaveral!, but also I'd love to see Chacho Canyon)
Quote:
Originally Posted by DixieGal
I've said it before, and I still stand by this: Our poor are wealthy compared to the poor of other nations. They get housing, food, educations, and health care for free. The problem is that some are addicts or mentally ill and unable to manage their lives, regardless of the institutions put into place to help them. The resources are already there for them, but they have to ask for them.
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I think that goes for all the Western countries. If you want help, you'll find it. But the ones that don't want it (for whatever reason), will be counted as well in the averages.