Katsot Savon Sanomien arkistokolumnia. Tämä kolumni on julkaistu
18.01.2011 00:00
Kolumni
The Best Country in the Whole World for Me?
Mary Nurminen
Kirjoittajan kolumnit
I didn't move to Finland because I took a rational look at how things are in different countries and decided this is the one for me. No one does that. We all just end up somewhere - either by being born there or happening to go there as an exchange student or by working there.
It was the same for me and Finland, I just happened to end up living in this country that a magazine in my home country ranked as the best place in the world to live.
The question is, do I agree with that? Am I happy I ended up here, and have raised a family here, for the same reasons they gave in the magazine?
The article said the number 1 best thing here was the education system. While I do think it's excellent at producing a high average of students, I actually think that my kids would have gotten a pretty equal education in the U.S. Math would likely have been a bit weaker but creativity and communications stronger than here. We'd have to pay for their university education, but up until then everything is as free as it is here (or freer, you don't have to buy your own books in high school like you do here).
Health services was of course listed as one of the great things in Finland. Again if I think of my personal situation, I believe we'd have a similar level of care over there than we've had here. It would involve a lot more red tape to deal with private insurance companies, but the level of care would end up pretty much the same.
Another thing Finland scored high on was quality of life. On winter mornings when it takes me 45 minutes to put on all my outside clothes, get the car started, scrape the windows and actually get to go somewhere, I tend to think to myself that that is crazy, this is not a quality way to live life!
So why am I happy to live here? What makes this the best country in the world for me to live in?
We have fairly good social security here. As I often point out to people, there IS social security in the U.S., far more than many people here seem to know. But it doesn't cover everyone as equally as the Finnish system does.
So I can say that if we lived over there, my family and I would receive pretty similar levels of education and health care. But that is because we would assumedly be of a certain social class. it doesn't mean that all kinds of other people would get a similar level. And that does affect the everday life of everyone in all social classes. Even though I joke about quality of life in the winter, I do think the more equal social security means a better quality of life.
The political trends and ways of thinking here are a bit closer to my own. Of course there is a whole Democrat party in the U.S. and all kinds of people with views similar to mine. But there is also a huge number of people whose views I find it hard to even understand.
I just like to think that the likes of George Bush could never get elected here (on the other hand I like to think a Kekkonen could never get in office again either).
I'm at home as a Finnish woman. Straightforward, sensible, appreciating the practical things in life more than worrying about how we look or how our house is decorated. It fits me well. We have forests. After growing up in a place with few trees, I've learned to love the forest and have a need to get out in it on a regular basis. Of course other places have forests, but ours is so present and close, you're never that far away from one.
We have berries. Seriously, whenever I eat strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries in other countries, I just feel sorry for the people living there. Do they really think those berries taste good? They taste like nothing! I never know whether I should try to tell them about our berries or just let them continue to live in ignorant happiness.
We have light summers and lakes full of fish and easy-to-use fish smokers. Those summer evenings when my husband has smoked one of the fish he caught that day, and we sit outside with 1 smoked trout, 2 forks and 2 cold beers between us...well, then I'm very sure I live in the best country in the world.
Vocabulary: Red tape: paperisota; Scrape: raapata: Social security: sosiaaliturva: the likes of: sen tyyppinen ihminen; Trout: lohi
