So, maybe, you can remember yourself
It's always been an agreement in my head that people from other countries are exotic. In fact, I believe that's agreed in anybody else's mind, as well.
The odd thing I've found about myself is the subtle want to be that exotic entity that always sits in the back of my mind when I think about a French or English (etc, etc) person. What I didn't realize before--and what I do realize now--is that, if I were that exotic person, I wouldn't be me. I wouldn't be the exotic American that all those people from other countries deem me to be. If I suddenly decided to act like a home-grown French woman all the time, French people would begin to lose their exotic feel on me; and I never want to lose that feeling. I never want to lose that feeling because it's a source for excitement. I like thinking about foreigners and how they might act from day to day. It might destroy me if I knew for a fact that most of them act exactly like I do, only with a few differences (language being one for most countries).
So, now, I ask myself: what does it really mean to be an American--to act like an American? We're such a mixed pot of everyone that it's almost like I have a piece of every country in me, only with that authentic American twist that I can't quite put into specifics. We Americans have something interesting about us. For someone who's spent some time hating that she's American and is therefore very unpatriotic, I've got to say that I adore our culture--however ignorant we tend to be. There's something to be said about our aggressive, confident, almost crude attitudes.
So, my fellow Americans, feel proud to be what you are because no one else is. Just...don't embrace it too much.
The odd thing I've found about myself is the subtle want to be that exotic entity that always sits in the back of my mind when I think about a French or English (etc, etc) person. What I didn't realize before--and what I do realize now--is that, if I were that exotic person, I wouldn't be me. I wouldn't be the exotic American that all those people from other countries deem me to be. If I suddenly decided to act like a home-grown French woman all the time, French people would begin to lose their exotic feel on me; and I never want to lose that feeling. I never want to lose that feeling because it's a source for excitement. I like thinking about foreigners and how they might act from day to day. It might destroy me if I knew for a fact that most of them act exactly like I do, only with a few differences (language being one for most countries).
So, now, I ask myself: what does it really mean to be an American--to act like an American? We're such a mixed pot of everyone that it's almost like I have a piece of every country in me, only with that authentic American twist that I can't quite put into specifics. We Americans have something interesting about us. For someone who's spent some time hating that she's American and is therefore very unpatriotic, I've got to say that I adore our culture--however ignorant we tend to be. There's something to be said about our aggressive, confident, almost crude attitudes.
So, my fellow Americans, feel proud to be what you are because no one else is. Just...don't embrace it too much.
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