Tuesday 15 November 2011

My passport says American


16. the American Way
This might be a bit flippant in light of the NYC activities last night, which I am only just catching up with on twitter, and which make me a bit ill, but……they also mean that I have transport for the rest of my time in the US and that makes me happy. 
A dear family friend has an extra car just sitting around and has offered it up. 
An extra car just sitting around.  How awesome is that?! 
I knew America would pull through with its rampant consumerism. 
That’s not to say that our friend is a rampant consumer. 

But I guess I am also thankful for the American Way that is being played out in squares across the country.  I have to be honest, I haven’t been following the Occupy movement.  Somewhere along the last five years I have lost my activist fervour.  I’m no longer as aware of the great issues of the day as I once was when I desperately tried to get bored Freshman to look beyond their weekend plans and campus borders. 
But I am immensely thankful that the youngish people of the US (at least some) have finally stepped up and decided to be heard. (although I guess its a mix of ages involved in the Occupy movement) At my height of activism (about 8 years ago) I was so angry that the youth of America would not open their eyes, get beyond their petty personal dramas and see that the country was going to hell.  I remember the old hippies coming out in droves to protest, reliving some of their glory days, but not many yutes (youths). 
I’m not glad of the state of the nation and I am guilty of having fled my nation and not really looked back (although it’s not heaps better in London but at least I can get my healthcare for free)  but I am thankful that the youngish people of America, even a minority, are finally speaking up and attempting to make a change. 
And who knows, maybe one of those protestors being manhandled down on Wall Street was once a bored Freshman with a really enthusiastic Geography professor.  It just took graduating and facing those student loans with no job to wake up to what she was on about back then.
A teacher can dream. 

Today I am thankful for both facets of the American Way.  There is still good in the idea of America.  We just have to find it again.
For my part, I will stop pretending to be Canadian when I travel. 

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