How Norway Differs from the U.S.A.

Look at a $20 bill and a 500 kroner bill and you will see a good summary of the difference between the United States and Norway.

On the U.S. $20 is a picture of Andrew Jackson, famous as a warrior and "Indian-fighter." His reported act of kindness was that he adopted an Indian boy. (Jackson pried the boy from a dead mother after Jackson's troops massacred the boy's village.)

On the 500 kroner is a picture of Sigrid Undset, the Norwegian feminist who won the 1928 Nobel Award for literature. Undset donated the entire award to various scholarships for children. Later she sold her Nobel medal to help Finnish refugees. That pretty well sums up the values we saw expressed in the two countries.

The CIA Handbook describes Norway as an example of "welfare capitalism" with a very high tax rate. What this seems to mean specifically is that there is national health care, good education, and money invested in roads, parks and libraries. It means that under the statistic for population living "below the povery level" Norway's entry reads "N/A" or "not applicable."

Children were accomodated and allowed to behave as children. They would be described as "spoiled" in the United States, where child-like children who act curious, lively and happy in public are all too often slapped and told to "sit still."

Although the United States has the Americans with Disabilities Act that is supposed to ensure there is not discrimination against the disabled, this is often resented as merely "politically correct." In Norway it seemed that we saw many more people with physical handicaps, in wheelchairs for example, participating actively in museums and public places. There seems to be a genuine attitude of inclusiveness.

No doubt there are social problems in Norway, but they are nothing like the United States. There was not the same tension and apprehension on streets or in parks.

Perhaps we were just fortunate that we always seemed to meet considerate and interesting people throughout the country. Or perhaps there is just a higher level of decency and courtesy in Norway.

What a pleasure it was to visit a country genuinely more prosperous and better off than the United States!