AN AMERICAN GOOD QUALITY

Un articoletto in inglese, anche per darvi un’occasione di correggere i miei errori. G.P.

What is the best quality of life in the United States? I happen to have had a short correspondence with an American lawyer who has also lived in France, Germany and Italy. As a consequence of this, he is entitled to establish parallels between old Europe and the New World. In his eyes, a particular quality of Americans is that they are much more active and “energetic” than Europeans. On which I agreed, adding, nevertheless, that I was not sure that it was a particular good quality.
In the first place we must distinguish good qualities for the individual and good qualities for the society. A perfect example of good quality for the society are “warrior termites” who fight against intruders while their fellow termites mend the breech behind them, cutting them out until they die in the battle or somehow. This heroism is similar to that of the so called Japanese kamikaze, but who could say that this kind of good quality is useful for the individual?
It is true that Nature has foreseen this kind of sacrifice in the interest of the species. The warrior termites die if there is a battle, but if there is no battle the other termites take care of them and feed them. You could call that reciprocal advantages. But again in our society the situation is not always so dramatic and one-sided. A liar is normally disadvantaged, but a man who would tell everybody the entire truth would end up like Molière’s misanthropist. In mankind it is not a matter of black and white, it is a matter of shadows of grey.
One could say that for us it is necessary to establish an acceptable balance between the personal and the collective interests. No one is required to be a warrior termite (unless he accepts this rôle willingly, like the kamikaze) but it is a totally unacceptable behaviour to park one’s car bridging two park places. This is damaging our neighbour not even getting an advantage from it, merely because of being careless.
A basic principle or America’s mentality is not only that “Everybody can succeed, everybody can get rich”, but that everybody has the duty of success, everybody must get a lot of money, otherwise he is a loser. Competition in America is so hard and pitiless that the alternative of being a tramp becomes more or less attractive.
This tendency to the first rate performance is not a good philosophy. To begin with, it is not true that everybody can enjoy a success story. Some people try all their life long, and stay losers. Then – more important – success and money are not sufficient to get the what is most important: happiness. America is obsess by money but lacks wisdom, maybe the simple idea of wisdom. Something which is not exactly what was described by the “pills” of the Readers Digest, like “keep smiling and everything will be okay”.
Human, cultural, philosophical reflexion is almost absent, and this spoils all. Getting the conditions for being happy is not the sole condition for being happy. Surprisingly, the first condition is “the capacity of being happy”. For instance, if you always want more and more, you’ll never be happy. This means that the packet deal of being happy includes comprises wisdom. People should be warned that success in itself is not that great advantage or solution. Once Old Europe knew better, but today it has begun to ape America, and unfortunately not what is best in America.
An energetic society can create the most powerful country in the world. But for the individual is it worthwhile being energetic?
Think of Socrates: was he energetic? His wife was certainly right when she thought that with his intelligence, culture and skills, he could have won a lot of money. But Socrates was above the money, he didn’t need it. And – what’s more – he was serene and more or less happy. So much that he was not even over-troubled when sentenced to death. He just thought (and said): I am seventy, this is the age for dying, some way or other. How many – like him – could have made fun of the people who had to judge him? Maybe he was condemned to death because or this, but he didn’t care. I think he despised mankind, including himself. In this sense maybe he was the Übermensch Nietzsche dreamt of.
In our world people have been taught how to win, without knowing why they should. How to get success, not how to live. To run fast, not knowing in what direction. And maybe ignoring the vanity of all, i.e. what is essential to know before starting our journey.
As for me, I have only tried to be a conscious Epicurean. I have never done enough to be successful. And I have never earned a lot of money. Since I accepted that there was no God, and that I was mortal, I have traversed life as a tourist, giving it the importance it has. An importance that nears zero.