My Danish engineers union helps me look over employment contracts before I sign so I fully understand my rights and unenforceable terms, they tell me if I'm asking for too little in salary, and they give me great insurance rates (like USAA in the states) for home, salary, and dental. They're also there for me if I just want to talk about my career or need guidance. I'm not forced into being a member but I really value them. It's nice to feel taken care of.

Employers work with unions here. It's not antagonistic like in the US. I don't know where it went wrong but to me it's very much like the antagonism between drivers and cyclists in the US: cyclists and drivers hate each other there and both sides frequently try to provoke the other (Critical Mass is the most obnoxious thing I've ever experienced and I'm not even a driver). There's none of that here. We have a lot of public infrastructure to support cyclists here but even in cities with relatively poor cycling infra like Berlin that antagonism is missing.

If I had to guess it's that there's a culture of seeing-only-from-your-side of things in the States: you're black, I'm white, you're male, I'm female, you're an elite, I'm blue-collar and you'll never know how it feels to be me. And because you'll never know, you are my enemy.

What a wrongheaded way of approaching the world.