Big vs. small picture

America generally sees the big picture, get large ideas and then gradually, as the plan develops, get into the nitty-gritty. By contrast, Europe and some other cultures have a characteristic tendency of noticing the little details first, getting bogged down with them and having a much harder time in realizing the “big thing.” This is a trait that I have observed in the more than thirty years I have lived in the United States. When I wonder what is behind these different mental views, I can’t help but think that when you live in a huge country with gigantic needs, you have little option but think “big” in order to set events and projects in motion. There is also the greater freedom (real of just perceived) that permeates through American culture and signals that it’s okay to first embrace widely and then think about the minute details when they appear. In contrast, Europe is more densely populated, has a much older culture, is much more set in its ways and very orderly, that it’s a lot easier to see the obstacles along the way of an idea, than simply the possibilities. This might be a way to explain America’s perennial optimism with its view of the glass half-full as apposed to the more prudent, perhaps more cynical view of the European mind…