“I was just thinking about how much people take for granted in this country,” he replied.

“What do you mean?”

Giancarlo took a sip of water.

“Where I grew up,” he began, “if you were fortunate enough to secure a good-paying job, you stayed with it for your whole life. More often than not, the job was one someone else, probably your father, arranged for you. So you see, in a way, a path got laid out for you almost from birth, and you tended to deviate very little from it because it was safe and predictable. It’s like that in Italy, and in most places, believe it or not. People tend to take the safe, certain way in life, because otherwise the risk of failing and looking bad is too great—and to look bad is the worst thing that can happen to you when you’re Italian.”

Giancarlo paused, and took another sip of water.

“Here in America, on the other hand,” he went on, “people don’t fear uncertainty so much, and they fear failure even less.You change from one job to the next like you’re changing channels on the television. If you get tired of working for other people, you can try to start your own business, with hardly a moment’s thought about the risk. Look at how many businesses fail after only one year, and almost none make it past three. America is a land full of failures, and I say that only because that is what makes it great. In this country, when your dreams crash and burn all around you, you’re expected to simply learn from your mistakes, pick up the pieces from the wreckage, and start all over again.There’s no shame in it. And if you’re tired of your job or of running your own business, well, then you can go back to school at night and learn how to become a lawyer or a doctor or an architect or whatever you like. If you’re willing to work, there are no preconceived notions about what you can become or how far you can go. Trust me, it’s not like this in other parts of the world. It’s the main reason so many people come to this country—to be free of the old ways of thinking about themselves.”

“But not everybody comes,” Carter pointed out, “or probably even wants to come.”