Thanks, Katherine and vic-k. I started wondering about it all because there’s hardly a day when I don’t get a call from an American who has slammed head-first into limitations that are either innate or imposed upon him, and who reacts by saying, “Life isn’t supposed to suck like this! There’s gotta be a law against it!” and calling the lawyer he saw on Channel 5. (Instead, they get me, the lawyer who has to gently break it to them that life can suck, that 
does happen, and that there are fewer legal remedies available to them than there were even five years ago.)
Having recently moved from Boston to Seattle, I’ve discovered that there’s also a very noticeable difference in attitude between the two coasts. Which makes sense for similar reasons. Seattle really started to take off because it was the jumping off point for the Alaskan gold rush. At more or less the same historical moment, people were immigrating to Boston because they were (literally) starving in Ireland. Very different histories, very different attitudes.
Katherine
From the (almost) closing section of Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men.
“So I pulled the sunscreen down and squinted and put the throttle to the floor. And kept on moving west. For West is where we all plan to go some day. It is where you go when the land gives out and the old-field pines encroach. It is where you go when you get the letter saying: Flee, all is discovered. It is where you go when you look down at the blade in your hand and the blood on it. It is where you go when you are told that you are a bubble on the tide of empire. It is where you go when you hear that thar’s gold in them-thar hills. It is where you go to grow up with the country. It is where you go to spend your old age. Or it is just where you go.”
ps
I should bite my tongue here! This is the second time, in less than 24hrs, that I find myself in agreement with the Hillbilly Twins. 
I was about to make the point last night ( but buggered off to bed instead), that the Americas consists of extremely young countries, and predominant cultures. Their indigenous native populations/cultures, having been subsumed by the Old European colonisation that took place.
Since cynicism is a by-product of negative experiences, Mammy and Daddy Old Europe, have far more experience of the negative facets of life, than their children, young Americas. Hence, an ingrained cynicism that taints our World View. However, I think its fair to say that the States, is still in the throes of 'Thrusting Young Buck[i]-ary[/i]', and foolhardishness that plagues the young everywhere. That, in my opinion, accounts for the Yanks general Gung-ho, Can-Do attitude, as opposed to Europe`s apparently characteristic reactionary approach.
I totaly refute, however, Jaysen`s assertion that my original statement:
has any regional connotation, because it hasnt. It doesnt even qualify as an opinion. It`s just stating a simple Fact of Life. Life, does, imposes limits of one kind or another…on all of us.
Jacqi, 
I can assure you that:
Is as prevalent an attitude this side of the Pond, as it is over your side 
Take care
vic
Hey vic-k,
From the above please note Mrs. C’s follow up. This side of the pond is unable to understand that you do not have a “right” a “suck free life”. The regional view may not be YOURS but OURS. We continue to lead “charmed” lives that are protected from the raw facts of life. We are psychologically naive in this arena. And that is where the problem lies. We are unable to reconcile the rose colored view of life that we have to the blood stained view of life that the rest of humanity shares.
Until this country (US) begins to understand this and stops acting like a bunch of spoiled rich children, we will continue to top the shite lists for most of the world.
Hmm… I wonder if where that all came from?
Let me point out that the only limitations are ones we impose upon ourselves is true. Life does not impose anything upon you just as life cannot serve you anything nor can it listen etc. It is not a sentinent being or an entity that can influence your life at all. Life is nothing more than being alive or like one of my favorite quotes from a song:
“Just because you can breathe doesn’t mean your alive or that you really lived.”
The hard part is the price. There are no limitations to life but there is a COST to everything we whether it is monetary, time sacrifice, health or safety sacrifice. Usually the bigger the risk the bigger the “pay-off.” SO it is not a question of what limitations you set upon yourself but rather a question of what price are you willing to pay to achieve your goals.
As to Europe viewpoint and US viwepoint that is quite easy to point out. Europe is older and more established, they are conservative and reserved in many of their view points and are cautious.
America was founded by the cast-offs, criminals, religious rejects, and other dredges of society. We were originally made up of people that were not wanted by their actual homeland countries. In even attempting to travel to America one took great risk and the costs were high, physically, mentally and even at times monetarily. Many people took the risk because they could not live with price of not choosing to live within the limits their host countries set.
In settling America they were risk takers or “gamblers” you could say. NOt long after settling America they did the unthinkable and rose up against one of the biggest empires in Europe and dennounced their ruling over them and declared their freedom.
Was this the declaration of Independence? Actually no it wasn’t. It was the signing of the Liberty Point Resolves (signed just a few hundred yards from where I sit writing this.) People actually signed their name to this and took personal responsibility in declaring their freedom from what they felt was oppression from an empire. They also state that they would resist force by using force.
Talk about bravery. Talk about shrugging off the yoke of oppression. Talk about taking a huge risk in order push past a limitation in life.
This was done almost a full year BEFORE the actual Declaration of Independence was signed and was the first official act of independence on American Soil. (June 20th, 1775)
A bunch of criminals, farmers, religious rejects, and no bodies stood up against one of the largest Empires in history. Surely they were crushed under the boots of that empire. They had not one chance in hell in surviving any conflict with such a fierce and formidable enemy.
Not only did they have the courage to stand up and were willing to die for their freedom and to stand against what they felt was oppression by the governing body, they had the courage to actually try and win.
And win they did. It was a hell of a gamble but in the end it paid off.
So come forward two hundred plus years and those cast offs and rejects not wanted by all the other countries is now one of the biggest Super Powers and richest countries in the world.
Why? Well America was founded on risk taking. Always has been. Many gambles have paid off and many people have made tons of money BUT also many people have failed and have been crushed under the boots of capitalism.
If you look at eurpoean countries they may not have the most expensive lifestyles and they may not have the most state of the art technology BUT they do have things like established mass transportation systems, health care programs, welfare type programs, etc. In other words they have the ability to help those that have fallen.
In America you have the ability to go as far as you are willing to risk BUT if you fail you can “crash and burn” quite publicly and fall quite far.
And people always call American’s “Cowboys”. No other place in history or on the planet has such an icon. The “Wild West” were the use of force many ties was the only law. Where women were so scarce at times that men sometime would ride over 100 miles just to get a glimpse of a woman. Were justice was not always fair but was usually very swift.
It is the analogy of how America was founded and how its society went from being the biggest collection of the worst and unwanted to being the staple of how people wanted to live.
SO in summary many people of the world are more cautious and give more thought to their actions. They think things through and work out the best path of least resistance over time. They are slow but steady in progress.
America is like the Wild West, Cowboys, and Las Vegas. It is praying for luck, taking the chance, playing the game to win, going all in and risking it all. Yes there are many who fail some who are even broken by the failure but many have that Cowboy spirit at heart and pick themselves back up off the floor and take another swing at things. Because fighting is in our blood. 
But it does not matter if you aver very cautious in your approach to life or very careless but rather it boils down to what cost you are willing to pay to reach your goals and that is the only thing that sets limitations. You set a limitation when you decide the price is not worth the cost of something.
Here, read the first words of freedom spoken and signed for on American Soil and imagine being one of the 55 men who signed this declaration. Imagine 55 men standing up to the British Empire. By signing their names they not only established their choice in being free but announced to their oppressors and took full responsibility for their actions.
55 Men and their families against an Empire. At the time they signed that who would have thought they had any chance in hell at obtaining their freedom. Who would have thought a country as respected as the United States is would be born out of such a decision?
And sadly who celebrates those first brave men? Nope instead we celebrate the “Official” Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) which was signed in almost a YEAR after the Liberty Point Resolves were signed and sent.
So yes, no matter how bleak things may appear anything is possible as long as you are willing to pay the price or should I say sacrifice in order to obtain it?
And yes America’s mentality is not just “That glass is half full” but rather “Not only is that glass half full but if I can sell this business plan I could buy a bar and serve everyone I know half full glasses of beer!”
The price was very high but in the end I have them to thank for my freedom and the freedom of my family. And they made this decision not for monetary reasons, nor for fame and glory, but rather for the right to live with the freedoms many of us take for granted now a days.
Even the freedom of typos and bad grammar.
Well, there are limitations that are mutable and that we impose upon ourselves. Then, there are limitations that are immutable and are imposed upon us. Regardless of type, there are limitations that we should ignore (such as groundless insecurities about ourselves or our performance), some that we should resist (such as others’ prejudices about race, class, sex, etc.), some we should simply accept (and do the best we can regardless of them, such as a physical “handicap,” or even one’s salary), and some to which we should adhere (such as the law and our moral and ethical codes).
What I have to deal with in my practice are the people who are confused about their limitations. They can’t understand why they should adhere to the law. They can’t understand why they have to live within their paychecks. They can’t understand why they and their children suffer from the results of the bad choices they made when they decided to “blow off” their opportunities for an education. They can’t understand why the downturn in the economy has to hurt them, at the same time that it’s hurting “other people.”
Here in the U.S., we do have a culture that is young, spoiled, and forgetful of the achievements of our forebears. Maybe it’s because we are, as the Statue of Liberty proclaims, the “wretched refuse.” 
It’s just too bad that we have forgotten the bravery and the fortitude that Wock detailed for us.
This part of the world is not bad, now. On the contrary, it is rather funny, and we look forward to our lives with confidence. Optimism is granted by our Prime Minister’s attitude to seriously take care of our future:
Il mio cordoglio Paolo 
vic
Thank you. I’ll forward to my country, as soon as I see her.
Hey, at least there is still someone who can write a proper Italian somewhere in the world! Not everything is lost.
Paolo
Siete benvenuto, il mio amico