We know that there are lots of people in the world who don't care very much for America and Americans. This gets most obvious when they fly airplanes into our big buildings, of course; but it's not just Muslims. Even—can you believe?—lots of Brits don't much care for "Yanks."
Well, it might be a useful exercise to try to look at ourselves, our culture, as it might appear to others.
What are some of the things that we Americans worry about? Well, if you look at TV advertising, at least at this time of year, the true tragedies of American suburban existence are crabgrass, dandelions, and bald spots on our lawns.
And consider some of these facts:
Our pets are better fed and get better medical care than millions, or maybe billions, of the world's human beings.
We set our finest scientific minds to taking the calories out of our food ('cause we are disgustingly fat, again while millions are starving) and the wrinkles out of our complexions.
Middle (okay, upper-middle) -class American kids get "personal coaches" paid for by their parents. They were using Day-Timers to schedule their horribly busy lives but now surely all have Blackberries.
My neighbors all have two-car garages that do not hold all the family's vehicles. (And what is the ratio of autos-per-family in India, or China, or. . . .?)
We don't normally see this, of course, but our material bounty surely is excessive and disgusting when you look at the literal wretched masses of the earth. One good side to the current economic hard times is that people are starting to ask themselves, "Do I need to buy that?" Reduced consumption, and hence production, is bad for the engines of American industry, I'm sure—but it's good for global warming and maybe good for our souls.
Copyright © 2009 by Richard Stein
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