Why the Danes do it better

I spent a good while living in Denmark last year, and something struck me pretty much straight away. I would see it in cafés, in museums, in swing parks with my daughter, on the trains, even queuing at a supermarket checkout… everywhere. They carry themselves differently, the Danes. They seem to glide about, elf-like, tall and composed and utterly at ease with themselves. They speak plainly, and if they laugh, it is without checking themselves. They didn’t seem to be performing a version of who they thought they should be. They simply were, and it was beautiful to see.