Europe Slding Down the Slippery Slope at Top Speed

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Fitz:
I love travelling in Europe also, but have been reluctant to go lately as you can imagine. However, just what do you mean that you wish 15% of all Americans should use a passport? Not getting your intention here…
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Why are you reluctant? The only reason I would be reluctant to travel right now is the exchange rate.

If it’s a safety isse, I really don’t think things are dangerous- not more than they ever are anyway. If it’s an anti-American issue, I’ve had very few problems with people being rude to me. Usually they just want to talk to me and ask me about where I’m from, etc. Once in a while the occassional person can spout off about “American tourists this…” or “American tourists that…” and while it bothers me to an extent, I’m like, whatever. Just by us being here being tourists we add to your economy. Get over it. 🙂

I didn’t mean that 15% should use a passport, I wish that more than 15% had one and used one. Most the stats I’ve heard are that between 10-15% of Americans have passports (which doesn’t mean that they are all used). So that means if I walk into a room of 10 people back home, I may be the only person who’s ever left the country. Wow! Actually, probably less where I come from b/c I’m from Nebraska and I’m sure less Nebraskans leave the country than say your average New Yorker.

Being abroad- traveling, etc- had been the most influencial factor in my experience for shaping the way I look at the rest of the world. I feel really privileged to have gotten to do this, and I wonder if more Americans did the same thing how that would change the way we run our country and the way we make assumptions (often false!) about other countries- or other continents as a whole.
 
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Fitz:
I just took my daughter down to the Spanish counselate to get a visa since she will be studying there for 6 months. I am jealous and a little nervous for her.
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Fitz, that is AMAZING! Your daughter is going to have the time of her life. Spain is my favorite country in the world to visit, the history is just incredible. I went there for my first trip abroad as a 17 year-old high schooler… mind you, I was an evangelical protestant at the time… but when I stepped into those churches I just stood there with my mouth open and couldn’t move. There’s amazing architecture- Cathedrals converted to mosques converted back to cathedrals, the Al Ambra (sp?). The muslim influence is still very visible and it’s gorgeous. Then of course there’s the shopping. Dangerous! And there’s nothing like the late night, unending dinners and the fantastic night life. I am jealous too, I wish I could spend an extended amount of time there.
I hope she really enjoys herself and you don’t worry too much… my parents can be in a support group with you… 🙂
 
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Steph700:
Being abroad- traveling, etc- had been the most influencial factor in my experience for shaping the way I look at the rest of the world. I feel really privileged to have gotten to do this, and I wonder if more Americans did the same thing how that would change the way we run our country and the way we make assumptions (often false!) about other countries- or other continents as a whole.
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Two of my three children have traveled abroad. They do so often. They make very good assumptions btw…and they still think like Americans. Of course, they are grown up’s and mature enough to have gotten over themselves.

They have Pride in their Roots and retain their values. But have met many people abroad they have close friendships with. They don’t look for Europe to change the US though. They see the good, the bad and the ugly on both sides of the Ocean.

The same goes for several friends of mine. They have traveled and lived abroad. Two, work abroad in Consulates as a matter of fact. I somehow doubt the 15% idea. I don’t know that many people, but I can name at least 25 to 30% of friends and family, who travel and live abroad.
 
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Lance:
Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden, Yasser Arafat, Sadam Hussein and anyother suicide bomber.
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Don’t you mean Homicide Bomber, afterall they are killing other people, not just themselves. Don’t we refer to someone who takes anothers life and then kills themself as a muderer? I think suicide bomber is politically correct.
 
My comment about the USA was a joke, meaning that the USA went down the slope long ago! Seriously though, we should not generalise. There are many people in Europe who do not agree with permissive politics, just as there are many people in the USA who do not agree with the indiscriminate bombing in Iraq, little children losing limbs, the killing of mentally incompetent people by lethal injection, the torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners, widespread pornography on the Internet,bestiality, child abuse,especially paedophilia drug abuseThese are the fruits of North American culture, but they are the work of individuals. It does not make sense to condemn the whole of Europe, or the whole of the USA, for the troubles of our time.

“Before you look for the splinter in your brother’s eye; look for the log in your own eye.”
 
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Steph700:
So that means if I walk into a room of 10 people back home, I may be the only person who’s ever left the country. Wow! Actually, probably less where I come from b/c I’m from Nebraska and I’m sure less Nebraskans leave the country than say your average New Yorker.
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Wow, living in Detroit, a border town with Canada. Everybody here as been to Canada at the very least.

Heck, I met my wife there. She lived about a 1/2 hour drive from my place, but in a different country 😃 I can’t tell you the amount I was crossing the border while we were dating.

( and since my parents are from Ireland and all my relatives are there, I spent most of my summers in Ireland when I was growing up)
 
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Steph700:
Why are you reluctant? The only reason I would be reluctant to travel right now is the exchange rate. .
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Whenever I watch MSM they say all of Europe hates us. I am worried about my daughter in Spain. I have told her never to talk politics even if asked.
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Steph700:
If it’s a safety isse, I really don’t think things are dangerous- not more than they ever are anyway. If it’s an anti-American issue, I’ve had very few problems with people being rude to me. Usually they just want to talk to me and ask me about where I’m from, etc. Once in a while the occassional person can spout off about “American tourists this…” or “American tourists that…” and while it bothers me to an extent, I’m like, whatever. Just by us being here being tourists we add to your economy. Get over it. 🙂

I didn’t mean that 15% should use a passport, I wish that more than 15% had one and used one. Most the stats I’ve heard are that between 10-15% of Americans have passports (which doesn’t mean that they are all used). So that means if I walk into a room of 10 people back home, I may be the only person who’s ever left the country. Wow! Actually, probably less where I come from b/c I’m from Nebraska and I’m sure less Nebraskans leave the country than say your average New Yorker…
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I haven’t been in Europe in about 3 years. I had not trouble ever, and I had traveled there over the course of 25 years. I was treated nice in every country, and never felt like people were rude or unappreciative of the money we spent there. However, like I said the MSM paints a horrible picture. I actually wonder if the rest of the world knows what we see on a regular basis. It is bad for everyone’s economy.
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Steph700:
Being abroad- traveling, etc- had been the most influencial factor in my experience for shaping the way I look at the rest of the world. I feel really privileged to have gotten to do this, and I wonder if more Americans did the same thing how that would change the way we run our country and the way we make assumptions (often false!) about other countries- or other continents as a whole.
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There is no doubt that travelling in Europe has shaped how I think, however I still feel we live in the best country. I guess I would have to start another thread to say why. We have many aunts, uncles, and cousins in Luxembourg. My husband was in Europe for 2 weeks recently and had a wonderful time. I personally resent what the media in all our countries has done to pit us one against the other. If we want more European discussion I think we had better open a new thread. I am happy that me and my family are in the percentage that have passports. I agree with you on that. I only wish that when people used passports to come here that we were as careful about protecting our country as most other countries are about protecting their country.
 
Steph700 said:
Fitz, that is AMAZING! Your daughter is going to have the time of her life. Spain is my favorite country in the world to visit, the history is just incredible. I went there for my first trip abroad as a 17 year-old high schooler… mind you, I was an evangelical protestant at the time… but when I stepped into those churches I just stood there with my mouth open and couldn’t move. There’s amazing architecture- Cathedrals converted to mosques converted back to cathedrals, the Al Ambra (sp?). The muslim influence is still very visible and it’s gorgeous. Then of course there’s the shopping. Dangerous! And there’s nothing like the late night, unending dinners and the fantastic night life. I am jealous too, I wish I could spend an extended amount of time there.
I hope she really enjoys herself and you don’t worry too much… my parents can be in a support group with you… 🙂
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Thanks for the info and I will pass it along to her. She is taking 3 courses in Spanish so they will count as humanities classes and Language classes. She won’t get double credit, but she will have them satisfy more requirements for her double major. I hope this makes sense. She is going to take an art course in a major art school and she is most excited about that. Of all my children she is the most outgoing. My others have also studied abroad (one in Oxford by the way). We are encouraging of the connection to a bigger world, but I hate the way the world is now and the fact that she may be hated just for being American. I really hate it. We have tons of foreign exchange students here, so it really should be no problem but I am more worried than I would have been before
9-11.
 
Lisa N:
Unfortunately I believe that even if the individual is in charge by law, this assumes the individual has capacity to make a decision. The Dutch baby euthanasia as well as the situation with the man in a coma by definition take the decision away from the individual as he has no capacity to act or make a decision.

The ideal would be that if an individual doesn’t or cannot make a directive then no “passive euthanasia” under the guise that is what the person would have wanted should he have been able to make the decision.

Lisa N
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On whom does the obligation fall to keep alive the individual who cannot make the decision? For how long?
 
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Marie:
I somehow doubt the 15% idea. I don’t know that many people, but I can name at least 25 to 30% of friends and family, who travel and live abroad.
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Marie I wondered the same thing because everyone in my family has gone to Europe for school or work or vacation and I can’t Imagine the 15% being accurate. Do you think this is scewed or made up? Urban legend? Just like: Americans don’t speak any foreign languages when I have a very high percentage of people I know that do? Just wondering.
 
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Steph700:
Cathedrals converted to mosques converted back to cathedrals, the Al Ambra (sp?). 🙂
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The cathedral in Cordoba. The Alhambra palace complex is still moorish.
 
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Steph700:
… I’ve had very few problems with people being rude to me. Usually they just want to talk to me and ask me about where I’m from, etc.
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I’ve been to Germany a couple of weeks ago and had absolutely no problem, not even a slanted gaze.

The media may lead one to believe that Europeans are waiting for Americans in the airports with torches and pitchforks, they’re not. Resist the media trying to instill a sort of twisted remorse in Americans.
 
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Fitz:
Whenever I watch MSM they say all of Europe hates us. I am worried about my daughter in Spain. I have told her never to talk politics even if asked.
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Don’t listen to the media. No need to be ashamed an American anywhere in the world. She’ll be fine and perhaps change some people’s minds about Americans.

God bless.
 
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Zoot:
The danger at the bottom of the slippery slope is that the individual is not in control of his treatment. This gives someone else the authority to direct the death of a patient. The more we entrench the notion that the individual is in control, not someone else, the safer we will be from involuntary euthanasia.
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I disagree. Once the gates are open, you’re fair game.

That’s how it started in the Netherlands, giving the individual decision over his treatment. Now, if one’s less than 12 years-old or mentally incapacitated, the doctors can terminate one’s life without searching consent from next of kin.

In my book, that’s murder.
 
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maklavan:
My comment about the USA was a joke, meaning that the USA went down the slope long ago!
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We’re definitely in the same downward slope.

The only hope is us climbing the slope back up, for the world goes where the USA go, as Europe went after Roe vs. Wade.

God have mercy on us all.
 
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Steph700:
My only wish is that more than 15% of the American population would have a passport- and use it!!
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Could it be that only less than 15% of Americans have a few thousand dollars left aside for pleasure?
 
As a Catholic who just happens to be European I can say I do agree. We are in top gear to the bottom.

Watching America closely helps though. We are watching and learning from a nation that has gone all the way and hit the bottom before us.

America has a pulse faint and all as it may be. But it seems to be getting stronger bit by bit.

Come on America. Set the example. Europe seemingly is losing its soul and heading towards flatline. We need to know that we can come back. May God help us all.

The only thing that keeps me very hopeful about Europe is the flag. It was designed as a Catholic emblem by a devoted Catholic. Each and every time I see the flag I see Our Blessed Lady’s smile in its folds. Blue with a circle of 12 stars!! Revelation??? Is the heel ready and waiting to crush the head??? Our Mother is watching, I believe, and ever ready to catch us before we hit the bottom.
 
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