It doesn't occur to you that people who do things in order to be liked are emotionally immature?

In the world I grew up in, we were taught to stand alone if we disagreed with the group. In America, people are socialized in a way that no other country in the world has.

When I first arrived in the States, countless expats told me that Americans were very superficial in their friendships.

Several people, both black and white, who had been there 30 or more years, and who were very successful in business, said that they had never made friends there.

What sort of people believe that if they don't drive this car or have that partucular phone, that people won't like them? In fact, why would it even bother them?

We come from very different cultures. I have read quite a few articles that younger Americans have little resilience.

The bad news is that life isn't fair, that things czn get very tough, and it is not the job of government to provide emotional proection.