First, we convinced ourselves we didn’t have to be able to do everything. Now that we do, we seem to think we can’t. Europe could use a little more self-confidence.
It hasn’t been easy lately to stay optimistic. Europe’s big brother is shaking us down, threatening territorial grabs and driving up energy prices. War is raging along our eastern borders. From China, a tidal wave of high-quality tech products threatens to hollow out our industries. And across Europe’s political stage, populism is sucking up all the oxygen.
Yet, I’ve come to believe the Netherlands’ – and Europe’s – biggest problem now resides in our own heads. The crises themselves aren’t the greatest threat; it’s the way we respond to them. We barely recognize the world around us and feel powerless to shape it. And so, we drift with the current, making only a few half-hearted strokes of the oar to project some illusion of autonomy.
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