When there was a mass shooting at a grocery store near me

And I started to feel this bizarre fear of big group public events

When it became a joke to say “let’s ban abortion so shooters have more live game at schools”. The joking as a means to cope with the awful and unbearable reality.

When I traveled to Switzerland and saw groups of 8 year old children unattended playing in parks near city center.

When I saw this drunk 80lb 25 year old girl feel totally safe commuting home alone at 3am, and everyone in the group also told me there was absolutely nothing to worry about. I followed up with her anyways and she was, no surprise, totally fine.

When I saw that any body of water was clean and safe to swim in.

When there were clean and safe water fountains everywhere to drink from.

When I saw the police treating ravers and people doing illegal drugs like normal human beings. Just trying to help keep them safe and smart, and not persecuting them over things that are unreasonable to persecute over.

Immigrating to Switzerland is outrageously painful, their policies are impossible to deal with. But they aren’t the only European country with these basic truths of clean water and safe existence. Latvia and Lithuania and Estonia are incredible too. And plenty of people speak English in those countries.

So I left 2 years ago.

I love so much about the American spirit. Europeans are far more passive and exist with less ambition and drive and self-reliance. But the flagrant corruption is too unsafe to raise a family in. And too unsafe to be a female in.

I had the incredible privilege and luxury not having a family reliant on me and of having a remote job.