I am in Vienna this week in meetings with some business associates from around the world. My hosts own hotels here in Austria, in Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. My other friends live in Tel Aviv, but have businesses in Greece, Italy and Poland as well as in Poland.
Tonight as dinner concluded we were speaking about the difference between cultures in the Mediterranean, Europe and America. On the subject of alcohol, my Greek friend Manolis was shocked to learn that Americans are not allowed to drink until the age of 21. His cousin, who was raised in the States, said "yes - 21 to drink and 16 to drive." This comment was met with much amusement by all. In most of the world, underage drinking is not a problem - it is part of dinner.
I told them that in the States we have a real problem with drinking and driving. I quoted the statistic that 40% of all traffic accidents with fatalities in the US involve a driver that is under the age of 23 - and that half of those accidents also involve alcohol.
My Israeli friend Richard said "I wonder why we don't have the same problem with underage drinking and driving in Israel and Greece."
With sage wisdom, Manolis deadpanned "We don't have as many statisticians."
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