Dear Elias,

Once again, I thank you for your encouraging words, (but moreover for the suggestion that my contributions fall into the category of ’lesson-giver’. I am grateful you pointed this out, as I had no idea I was perceived this way. I think Dr. Rice, our Sec. of State, is similarly perceived...).

It would seem I must find a way to express a point of view, without appearing to be preaching, which I can clearly see would be received poorly, or even interpreted as some sort of arrogance. Small wonder the epithets are thrown my way !

The extreme state you decsribe, emotionally, of French citizens vis a vis so many issues,- global economy, immigration, unemployment, etc.- is perhaps a result of the welfare state that socialists created in the hopes of giving all citizens a better life....do you agree ?

This was a noble goal, and it sounds workable on paper.

But in reality when you pay people welfare who do not work, you enfeeble them and give them a sense of entitlement to money they have not earned. Finally you wind up with a huge segment of society who either are on welfare, or, similar to welfare, have an ’easy’ government job where they barely work, but where they collect a good salary for the rest of their lives,-and this tends to scatter a great deal of creative energy and intelligence that might have been better directed had these individuals had to struggle to succeed.

So the folks trembling today for fear of all the changes are not made of the same mettle as their forebears, who knew what it was to be thrifty, and to struggle. They are soft. Perhaps they are spoiled by an overly generous welfare system. Somehow their imagination and work ethic was stifled before it could even be wakened.

No one wants to return to the days of Francis I, where mobs fought with each other for a spot on the pavement outside the abbatoirs where they could lick the blood dripping out of the slaughter house. No one wants to return to a feudal society, or to a society in which only a few have the opportunity to study and advance themselves...

The essential problem with post WW2 France might seem to have its roots in the notion that since life previously had been so difficult, the state would step in and become the main provider for every household. And somewhere in this process, society became quite content to work less, enjoy the ’good life’, and let the state pay for it....6 weeks vacation every year, 35 hour work week, educational stipends even for lazy or stupid students which could stretch for 10 years or more, family allotments which did not carry any criteria as to whether or not a father worked,( or parents correctly raised their children...) and on and on...and now this « Easy Street » is coming to a cul- de- sac, and no one knows which way to go....

In the process of giving everyone everything, the Republique emasculated a people who were once famed for their energy and inventiveness. Can you rekindle that energy ? Can the spark of creativity be lit when it has been extinguished for many generations ?

This remains to be seen.

I surely hope so. The France that I so admire has made our world infinitely more healthy and beautiful. The legions of scientists, engineers, architects, philosophers, poets, composers, musicians,..on and on...wove into the tapestry of Western civilization an irridescence that elevated our lives and illuminated the best in the human heart and mind.

And that radiance will shine again, I am confident !

My best to you, and your compatriots, and

God Bless France !

Claire