Sunday, June 24, 2007

Things I have come to appreciate about the U.S.A.

1. Strangely enough the first thing I have come to appreciate is the government. Let me explain. I know very little about American politics and I grew up thinking many politicians were corrupt and out for themselves. This all may be true, I don't know. But I do know that they at least deal with issues in the country, they do accomplish things, and they are not nearly as corrupt as people in some other governments. Our politicians don't pocket the government's money, take bribes as a matter of course, or spend all their time vacationing somewhere far away. They also don't have armies; imagine the Democrats and the Republicans each with their own fully trained military! All in all, considering all the things that they have to deal with, our country is doing pretty well. In addition, despite the fact that most people in foreign countries supposedly dislike America, it is still where they all want to live. Anyway, my point is, my country's government isn't so bad.


2. America is trash concious. We don't throw our pop cans on the ground, their are fines for littering, and we put trash cans in public areas. If Americans go on a picnic, generally they pick up their trash before they leave. People in the Middle East don't. There is trash everywhere. In fact, we joke about how the world's supply of plastic bags must grow on the trees there and be "harvested" and shipped around the world.


2 comments:

Ibid said...

I'm in Moscow (off and on). Give me a call! You can come see my new apartment and have tea! It's so shady that you want tea even when it's hot.

Nick Jesch said...

I won't comment further on our government--but as to the issue of trash, you are correct. As messy as we are, we come nowhere near the piggishness of most third world countries. India had to ban altogether the small plastic bags used everywhere--because they ended up in more places than that. I've been in quite a number of places in Latin America..the rubbish is thrown everywhere, and hardly anyone ever picks any of it up. Whenever I get disgusted at how thoughtless we Yanks are, I will consider the other places I've been that are far worse.