America through the eyes of the foreigner
Carlos Restrepo
– Editor-in-Chief-
During my four-year stay in this country, I’ve noticed that most Americans are always looking for their roots; they search for heredity entrenched in another flag, another country and another language.
They are either Irish, Italian, British, German, Russian – they want to know “who they truly are.” Americans always seem to look for another culture to adopt, rather than that of their home country.
Some say it is not interesting or special enough to be defined as just an “American.” They say, “This is a nation of immigrants; a nation of everybody; a nation of nobodies.”
The ways in which Americans divide themselves are often times not linked to a race or ethnicity. We grow attached to our ideas, and turn our differences in beliefs into battlefields. Sometimes it comes down to being either republican or democrat, Catholic or Protestant, pro-health care reform or anti-health care reform.
“Good for you, you have a heart; you can be a liberal. Now, couple your heart with your brain, and you can be a conservative,” said Glenn Beck, Fox News commentator, in one of his shows.
It is comments like those that divide us, separate us into black and white, and allows for no scale of grays.
There are other countries that face worse problems in their everyday lives.
Americans need to realize that this wonderful country, which although is far from perfect, is still one of the most stable, most powerful forces in the world.
In America, most of us can get clean water from our kitchen sink. In the world, there are 884 million people who do not have access to safe water, according to UNICEF.
In America, being poor might mean having a job that only pays $7 an hour. According to the World Bank Development indicators, approximately half of the world – more than three billion people, lives on less than $2.50 a day.
In America, we worry only whether the next president will be a democrat or a republican. There are at least 20 countries in the world with a high risk of presidential coup, at any give time, according to www.globalsecurity.org.
These are just few of the things we take for granted in the country, however. What is most important is not to take for granted where you are from. What is most important is not to take your heritage for granted. Say it loud, and say it proud – I know I would.
