We were sitting in the smoke-room of a hotel in Serbia when an Estonian guy sitting across from me launched into an elaborate tirade about the despicability of Americans. Well, at least he thought he was being elaborate. He had two points, both clearly deduced by a lengthy and ingenious reasoning process surely not replicated by anyone else in Europe: Americans are stupid and they consume too much.
I sat there listening to him go on and on. Just when my brain was about to self-destruct, I asked the guy, "Have you ever been to the States?" Silence. "Well, uh, I had this friend who went…." "And have you ever met an American?" "Well, you know, I watch movies…."
After my visit to North America this summer, I admit I was also cynical. It seemed to me that everyone was absurdly spoiled. I couldn't imagine anyone ever being satisfied when there was always something bigger, better, newer, prettier to be had. I saw things going to waste everywhere, things being thrown out that would be a luxury over here (e.g. broccoli).
But after living six months in an apartment where half the electricity is out most of the time and all the electricity is out some of the time, my opinion has changed. We by no means suffer in Split. We're happy and we live pretty well; in summer we live excellently. But when you live in a long-term lack of something, it's human nature to get as much of that something as you can once it becomes available. There's no morality involved – it's a question of human nature. That's what people get wrong when judging NAm. (I'm blending the States and Canada together in this, although Europeans are curiously insistent that Canadians are different.) (Another aside: My words imply that human nature is "above" moral judgment. Intellectually, I do kind of think so. Practically, instinctively, there are plenty of things I see people do out of "human nature" that I judge to be morally wrong. It's a huge issue that I'll leave to the philosophers.) And so the people who judge NAm are the ones who forget to consider how they themselves would act, given the same circumstances as a North American.
In the States, wifi internet is available on buses and trains (!). Fancy phones (I don't even know what's what anymore, iPads or whatever) are cheap. Gizmos and gadgets are there and easy to acquire. You can keep in touch people and take care of business instantly from anywhere. For God's sake you can look up a word online while you're riding the metro to work. That's amazing. Would you refuse that, given the chance? What good would it serve you to refuse?
In NAm, you can get strawberries in the middle of winter. If someone offered you fresh blueberries in March after you've spent months eating wrinkly apples, would you really say no? Who cares where that mango came from - it's delicious, nutritious, and available. Why not?
In NAm, you can sample cuisine from all over the world at a modest price. I sound like an advertisement, I know. And yeah, the cuisine is not always "authentic." But the fact is that NAm has ties to everywhere. Walking down a single street, you can hear people speaking Vietnamese, Portuguese, and Creole. Go to an Irish pub and a real, live Irish person will serve you. There are shops that sell Korean goods, there are bookstores that carry literature from all around the world. This sounds ridiculous, but in a way the world is in North America. You can learn about any place and meet anyone from anywhere right at home. (Don't get me wrong – I still think there's nothing compared to living it first-hand.) And so if an Argentinean tried to strike up a friendship with you in NAm, would you politely decline because it's not Argentina?
The point: NAm really is the land of opportunities. To not take advantage of the opportunities is actually more wasteful than to "consume" them. This blog is not an incitement to go out and spend thousands of dollars on useless trinkets. It is an encouragement for people in NAm to realize how truly lucky they are, and to make the best use they can of all the wonderful things available to them.
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Your homework for this lesson is to go about your daily routine as always, but to look around you for all the small items and choices that you wouldn't have if you weren't in NAm. Those are the things that count. Do you have special whitening toothpaste? Eggs, toast, or cereal for breakfast? Did your shower stay hot to the end? Do you wear round-toe or pointy-toe shoes? Can you schedule a doctor's appointment? Do you drink water from your tap? With ice? Do you have a cell phone? Do you buy organic? Bonus points go to the student who finds the smallest thing to be grateful for.
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