Day 71 - Getting fired up
During the past 70 days, I've noticed a lot of things about English people. One of them is that, in general, they seem to have relatively passive, down-to-earth personalities - at least compared to most Americans. It's rare to see them get very fired up about something. They mostly just go about their business in a calm, almost stoic way.It's very rare to see anyone's face light up when I ask about a subject they're interested in. Some even have to think for a while before they can name something that interests them! Most do have at least a hobby or two, but very few seem to be extremely passionate about them. There are meteorology students who are interested in meteorology, but I haven't seen any cars covered with instruments. Many people like to watch and talk about "football", but I haven't seen any houses decked out with giant team flags, mailboxes, welcome mats, lawn decorations, etc. Quite a few go out and get drunk at night, but I've never seen anyone do anything particularly wild.
I don't think I've met anyone yet with insanely big dreams/goals. I haven't met anyone who plans to change the world some day, or who's trying to start a big new (fashion) trend. I don't think I've met anyone out looking for a wild adventure.
Maybe it's just because I don't know anyone here that well. Or maybe it's a cultural thing rooted in history. After all, these are descendants of the people who stayed home while the wild adventurers sailed off to the New World. And out of those in the New World, it was the wildest of adventurers who traveled west to frontier lands like my home states of California and Oklahoma.
Tonight I met two exceptions - people who seemed unusually passionate about the subjects they were studying (meteorology and politics, both of which I can get very fired up about). Interestingly, both plan to study in America next year.
4 Comments:
hehehe interesting (and probably quite perceptive!) observations...
culture's a funny thing.
Wow, Matt... I don't think I've ever heard anyone come to that conclusion about the British before, but I don't doubt that you're on to something. I can't wait to talk about this subject when you get home... cultural differences is something I'm "passionnate" about. *grin*
Maybe the English (and for that, please read "the British", let's not resort to petty parochialism!) are simply just more down-to-earth people, more acquainted with what life really is in essence, contemplating a survival perhaps, an inevitability into which they find themselves thrust. I personally wouldn't agree, regarding myself; but I can understand why some people might tackle life in that fashion. In my experience, the British are concerned with far more mundane matters (in the original, wholly positive sense of mundane) than many another European, and yet occupy themselves with many more creative, interpersonal pursuits. I may be wrong, but there you go - that's my pennyworth!
Perhaps its partly because, day after day, like yesterday, like today... we wake up under grey skies and we can't see beyond that.
I hope we British Christians aren't sucked into our stoic culture - I hope we're big dreamers taking action on them!
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