Cataholic -- you make some very valid points about life experiences. I am childless but my niece lives with me right now while attending college and my stepson lived with us for a few years. Early 20's both of them. It made me realize how "black and white" everything used to be to me -- very simple. Right was "my right" and wrong was everything else.

The world is far more complex than that and solutions are hard to come by as "one man's ceiling is another man's floor."

One last story then I will shut up on this thread. In August I was recruiting in London. A couple of the candidates I was interviewing decided to tell me what Americans "are like." One told me that Americans aren't friendly with co-workers and never make friends of them. (I responded that my husband and I had met as co-workers and were pretty friendly ) Another told me that because Americans don't have employment contracts they have no loyalty to the employer and can make faster decisions. This from a man who had never stayed on a job more than 2-3 years! Yet another told me that Americans make very slow decisions because every thing has to be by concensus.

The point is...perception is the sum of the experiences we have had, the things we have read or heard. Another individual may have had completely different experiences and therefore have completely different perception. Is there a correct perception -- that's a great philosophical question!