Passivity

I've decided the Dutch are passive about only two things: weather and bureaucracy.

The daily temperatures here are barely reaching 50 degrees (Fahrenheit!!), despite it being mid-APRIL. Dan and I wake up every morning wondering what we can do to stimulate global warming in the short-term, trying, as many Americans do, to control the weather. Yet when we mention (read "complain about") the weather to our Dutch friends, they barely mumble a response. Their attitude: it is what it is. Wearing sweaters in April is normal. Riding 10 kilometers in the rain is nothing to complain about. Getting stuck in the hail on a Sunday walk only means the walk was cut short. I suppose they waste a lot less energy than we Americans do regarding the weather. But I prefer to waste my energy - who else will empathize with the tulips about the injustice of it being tulip season but it not being warm enough to have tulips?

And then the bureaucracy. I know quite well the U.S. government is full of red tape and inconsistencies, but at least not everything is bureaucratized. Here, maybe since there is so much bureaucracy (as in, big brother can even tell you where to live), everybody is resigned to just dealing with it or silently getting around it. But even I prefer NOT to waste my energy on the bureaucracy - that's what husbands are for. But I can empathize with husbands, too!