3 observations

Living and working in different countries I was also experiencing different cultures, different peoples -- and the lessons imparted by these experiences may form the basis of many a posting. At the moment, I shall confine myself to three brief observations.

(1) Of all the places I have lived and worked since 1995, far and away the most appealing -- from an aesthetic point of view -- has been the capital of Hungary. With its Old World architecture and 19th-century layout, its restaurants and cafes and coffeehouses, its theatres and museums, its parks and, yes, even cemeteries, it evokes an (admittedly tarnished) golden age of civilization and cultivation that disappeared in the cataclysm of 1914.

(2) Of all the peoples I have lived among since 1995, the friendliest have been the Koreans and the Mongolians. To be sure, I've encountered little personal hostility wherever I've visited. But Koreans and Mongolians seem especially open to meeting individuals who are not part of their respective cultures.

(3) Years abroad have reinforced my longstanding conviction that human nature is fundamentally the same everywhere. However great the differences in governmental systems or social norms or cultural traditions, human psychology doesn't change from one border to another. This may seem a commonplace observation, but the persistent tendency -- among people from all walks of life, not just political leaders -- to see the world in terms of "us" vs. "them" does not bode well for the future of the race (the human race, that is). (As for my own analysis of what human nature amounts to, that, again, is a subject for future postings -- or, if you prefer, diatribes.)