We.might have to agree to disagree, but a discussion of how different cultures handle melancholia is not potshots and that discussion is not gratuitous in my opinion.

Thanks. I am not an anti-western rock-thrower. But I see faults in my civilization. (yes, Czech Republic is now part of the western bloc, for good and bad. Others may view us as west's redheaded cousin... but hey).

Truth be told, I find more solace in Buddhism than I have in any medication. For me it's not the west per se because I think Europe counts as the west, but I just fit in so much better over there because there is not an expectation that I be happy when I talk to people.


Buddhism be cool. I guess there is something liberating about accepting suffering as part of life. Meds may take the edge off... but they do not always work. You are gonna be sad in life. you are gonna be ****ing depressed even. It is how you fight back.

And as for happy... Czechs are notoriously "unhappy" people. I sometimes go to American expat board and there is discussion about why Czechs don't smile. Czechs try to either explain that we smile when we have reason, and going to work in crowded subway in the morning... is not a good reason.

That does not mean we spend our days crying and whining about how life is valley of tears. We are just cynical as hell and snarky and drink bit too much and laugh only at inappropriate things... It is just how we deal. We laughed off few foreign occupations too. (this drives dictators and dictator wannabies MAD. R. Heidrich called us "laughing beasts").