We all belong to multiple different groups - family, friends. colleagues, city of origin, current residence city, sport club supporter, music genre, ET, etc etc. It depends who we are talking to. One thing is certain - the desire to belong to a 'gang', pack, flock or swarm - just to belong - is very powerful.

We who live or were born in a 'European' country, only find the definition important (and think about it) in comparison to other large groupings such as 'The States', Islam, Asia etc. If at all.

Europe is amorphous, hard to grasp, dishomogenous, in flux. The one thing that Europe (Europeans) is not is nationalistic. And that is a good thing. Nobody is very patriotic about Europe. Nobody salutes the European flag; nobody stands for the Euopean anthem (except to go to the fridge when the Eurovision theme song plays once a year, as we ready to settle into our sofas for an evening of kitsch).

In all other ways, Europeans are essentially local. We cherish our roots (afew and I have a connection merely by being from the same city culture even though neither of us have lived there for decades).

Being European is pretty much synonomous with being human. It is Big Picture stuff that is not terribly relevant to everyday life.

You can't be me, I'm taken