Danny M,
The important bit has been looked over by us all here. Get the hell out there and do your PPL. That is the most poetic of all licences. Go out there and actually learn to fly. You'll realise how amazing you are. After that, I don't doubt that you will love it!
By doing a PPL you will understand all of these arguements so much more due to your daily contact with people like us (who are merely people like you but with various licences between us). I would thoroughly recomend that you study full time for the ppl and do so in america (if you want my opinion of the best school out there, pm me). Don't reply with the "ooh, can i afford to study ppl full time?" "how will I ever get the time off of work?" as these are very easy to do as you want to learn to fly, other things just find a way of working!
Keep the faith, work hard and just get out there and on the ladder!
D'Vay