Anderson appropriately confines himself to the youth of “Western Europe.” For ten years I’ve been regularly going to Poland, and I find a different kind of youth there.
They are ambitious, motivated, well-educated, and have a sense of reality. They know what Communism was like and they don’t want it again. Being Poles, they know that life isn’t easy but they’re prepared to take it on, and they love their country.
I generalize, of course. There are plenty of exceptions, and the vulgarity and hopelessness (”Dust in the wind”) of the international youth culture has seeped in, but religion still has a strong hold and it provides a shield.
Are you going there for work or vacation? We were discussing spending some vacation dollars in Poland (assuming Obama leaves us any).
I was in Prague this past September and everything you have said about Poland can be said about the Czech Republic! After Prague, we traveled throughout Germany and then England, unfortunately, the same can not be said about those two countries.