The Mediterranean Dream
Everyone has heard of the American Dream: to live beyond your means, climbing the corporate ladder, in a big house with several cars, a TV in every room, a pool out back, balancing the payments on four to six credit cards, etc. This lifestyle may not be bad for everyone, but I'll tell you why it's not good for me.

1) Many times it takes working more hours that you should to achieve The American Dream. I work between 40 and 45 hours a week. This is pretty standard for an office job in the United States and is very reasonable. I certainly don't mind the occasional heavy work week or coming in to work in the middle of the night from time to time, but I tried to get a job that would afford me enough time outside of work to pursue other activities and passions. Eight hours (10-11 with a lunch and commute) is already quite a bit of one's day, and I think it is important to maintain a good balance among family/friends, hobbies, passions, and work. I really enjoy my job and am happy to have it, but it is still work. I still look forward to going home at the end of the day. So am I lazy? I don't think so. I get the job done and try to do a good job at that. I just try to look at work as only a part of my life...not everything.

2) What level of materialistic gain must you achieve before you attain the American Dream? I love fast cars. When I bought my Honday Civic, I tried to convince myself that this would only be an intermediate, reliable car until I was more financially established. So I set my sights upon a modest sports car like the Nissan 350Z. In my mind I wondered: "Will that be enough? Sure it will be fun for a while, but maybe later I'll want a BMW M3 or a Porsche 911. I won't be able to afford those!" I guess my point is that if you make an object your goal, how can you be satisfied having finally gained it? Yes you have worked for something good and expensive, but there will always be something better. So in the game, you aren't quite a winner. Someone is always richer, better looking, more talented... It's a destructive tendancy that has yet to be broken in me, and so my goal is to run that Civic into the ground.

The Mediterranean dream says, "Work hard, but not excessively. Spend time with friends and family. Eat, drink, sleep, and enjoy a simple a life." I will use the place where I grew up as an example. In Cyprus the shops opened at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning. They would close again at 1:00pm, and everyone would go home to eat and then take a nap. They would open back up again at 4:00pm and close again for the night at 6:00pm or 7:00pm. Wednesdays were a short day with people not returning from their siestas until the next morning. Sundays, nothing was open. In the late afternoon, you could walk the streets and see middle-aged and older men sitting on the front porch of the cafes, sipping this tar-like substance from a thimble-size mug and playing backgammon. They would argue in a spirited yet good-natured manner and wave their hands around with vigor. Meals were late and huge. Few people were skinny, but nobody was really fat. They would walk in the evenings when the refreshing sea breeze would pick up and cool down the perpetually sunny island (though it did rain in the winter). We, along with many others, would hit the beach on the weekends if the season permitted. Many people lived modestly yet found times in their lives to get out of the country and live abroad, many going to England. If city life was too fast for you, you could drive out to the little mountain villages, buy some fresh cherries, and eat them as you sauntered through the narrow streets passing old widows, dressed all in black, leading a donkey.

Sounds cool, eh? It's getting harder to find. Shops are staying open later. Mall-like places are springing up. The generation of the village widows is dying out. The West is having a powerful influence. It's a bit sad. I guess I just feel that in my life, I would like to keep the leisurely pace of Cyprus nearby, never too far away. Even if I have to work longer hours sometimes and live in a city full of fast cars and young up-and-comers, I want to just remember what is important to enjoying life. I don't think it is 12 hours a day at the office. I don't think it is a summer house or an expensive car. If I am blessed with some spare cash, I want to use it to travel. The world view a person gets from travelling lasts a lifetime, and maybe I can get another taste of The Mediterranean Dream before it fades.