Scar said:
Mike, I guess that I live in a different part of the the country than you because I very seldom see the things you speak of. Sure the young folks play video games around here and eat at McDonalds but back in the 1950's when I was a kid we played war games and shot pop guns at Germans and
--deleted-- and ate at A&W Root Beer Stand. We also played cowboys and Indians and rode stick horses, I always played the part of the Indian because I am part Cherokee. You claim to be a world traveler and state that many folks around the world look down on our American culture. Why do so many folks from around the world try to become a part of this American Way? Sure we have problems but your assessment of the problem is lacking.
I'm not a world traveler, but I have traveled. I guess for the most part, I get my cynicism from the things I see around me (perhaps it's the big city I live in?). As far as people that look down on our culture... I've heard it called "Americanized", because children / even adults sometimes, will idolize people like Paris Hilton, and also Rap Artists that sing about shooting other people. The showing of cleavage, and dressing in an outfit that leaves nothing left to the imagination, for example. It's the very subtleties that we are immune to. I personally, find a women that's in a dress, far more attractive than a women 'dressed for a night out' (in her 'seductive' attire). But, it's unfortunately the norm these days... Perhaps because we have been so subjective to women, and treat them as objects, that we expect them to wear and act a certain way.
Men, if given the reign, would steer women conformity to what I deem an ugly behavior. I call it 'womanizing', and it's quite ugly. women have their inside beauty, but sadly, America's society has related 'beautiful', to a mini skirt and large breasts. Perhaps that's why we have a very high divorce rate... We marry based on outside 'beauty', and that hints at the fact that we fail to understand would pure beauty really is.
A very long time ago, I started work at a place where I saw a women that I though was very ugly. I worked there for 3 years... but on year 2, after I got to know her, she was the most beautiful person in the world to me. I let her know this, and sadly, she did not reciprocate, but what I learned is beauty is not skin deep. It's inside. Book covers get worn away, but the leafs inside hold the true story. (Hence, Beauty is only skin deep). Can you imagine for a moment what I had learned from this, because I actually laid awake many nights thinking of her.
And of course, people would love to come here (personally I don't know why), but they have this idea that the streets are paved with gold. Sure, there are some countries that live in squalor, farming their own fields with the fertilizer from their own waist, and would love to dig a ditches all day for minimum wage... but they will also send what's left over back to their family back home. Some countries are like this, and I don't blame them for wanting to come to America... but I'm speaking of the non-third world countries.
And let me just say, because you are [part] Cherokee, I would like to tell you that I hold the utmost respect toward you. You, out of all of us here, own this land more than any of us. You, sir, are the true monument of America.
