September 10th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: American Culture, Peace Corps | 1 Comment »
Dear America,
You have been a wonderful country, and I will always be proud to be a United States citizen. You do make a huge impact on the world. Your people create incredible products with recognizable brand names that are used by millions of people around the world. That includes Apple’s products, Coca Cola, Google, Facebook and Twitter. You have many incredibly talented people. People in other countries watch movies with subtitles made in Hollywood. Your fast food are loved by millions of people. I always run into McDonald’s and KFC everywhere I go outside of the US. Your people are hard workers who devote many hours to their jobs. You developed one of the greatest invention that has made staying in touch with friends and families, accessing education and news and creating businesses easier than ever – Internet.
I’m so grateful for the freedoms you offer to me. I was raised in an environment where as a female, I could go to school without worrying if someone would attack me for wanting to learn or my family couldn’t afford education. Even as a person with disability, I was still given the opportunity to learn in a mainstream setting and receive accommodations such as assistive listening devices. Many people with disabilities could set higher bars and achieve many of the same dreams that people without disability have thanks to numerous laws that ensure that people with disabilities are treated equally. You’re a nation of dreamers after all.
You’re one of the most diverse countries I know. You have often open doors to people from other parts of the world. I had friends and classmates who were from Mexico, South Korea, India, France, Brazil, China and many more countries that I can name. You’ve allowed immigrants learn about the American Culture and create opportunities in the US. Google wouldn’t have been here today if Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and his family wasn’t welcomed to the US.
However, you still have so much room to improve. For starters, more Americans should learn a foreign language. Unlike Canada and most countries in Europe, there is no requirement to learn a second language. Our world is becoming smaller and smaller as people from various countries can connect with each other instantly thanks to your invention, internet, and solve global issues together. Your people need to become more curious about the world outside of their home. Only about 42% of people in the US hold a passport.
The primary goal of my blog is not to only keep my family and friends in the loop about what I am doing in Cameroon and let them know that I am doing well. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I hope I can also educate you about a part of the world that you will very rarely see in travel publications and even in the news. I also hope that you can learn about the importance of cooperating with people from different countries to solve various social issues and how not to be fearful of different cultures and landscapes. Because we all, humans, live on the same planet, we have a responsibility to learn about our differences and work together.
I will certainly miss you, America. But I will think of you often when I teach people in Cameroon about you while I learn about their culture.
Sincerely,
Rachel
1 Comment
Robyn
September 10, 2014 at 11:03 pm
Could you please put a follow me by email or some sort of subscription service on your blog so when you put something up I get an email and not miss it 🙂
Cheers
Robyn