Us and Them
US AND THEM
Considering the state of things these days, I thought I’d do a bit of comparison between the US and England. Afterall, England is our motherland long separated in actions, ideals and focus. We left her with a fight, a declaration, and some idea of where we wanted to go. Maybe if we’d hung around another hundred years, we might have matured a little. Like fine wines take a long time to reach their maturity, so too people.
I also believe that Englanders know more about America than we do about them. I’ve seen that play out in an English gameshow called ‘Pointless’. The idea is a topic is given and contestants score the least points when they give an answer fewest of the people polled gave. The ones with the lowest scores win. One of the topics was named a city in California that begins with the letter ‘S’. Some of the guesses were San Diego, Sacramento, and San Jose. Now, how many towns in the entire country of England can you name beginning with the letter ‘S’? I daresay not many, if any.
Here are a few, none of which I doubt you’ve heard of: Saintbridge, Sacombe, and Salt Hill. Believe it or not, there are more than 3200 cities that begin with S. The point is we’re arrogant about ourselves, focused on this country and not others. I’ll even give you a more obvious example. Can you name the Prime Minister of England? I believe nearly every Englander knows the name of our President.
My point is this: we’re a closed off country that believes we are better than the rest of the world. Yet, in many of the highly developed countries they celebrate diversity, are open-minded, believe greatness can come from anywhere and anyone. They take pride in their histories and in their openness to change. Intelligence and friendship are highly valued virtues.
A good example of the difference in attitudes toward other countries is this: In the beginning of World War II, the English asked for our help several times to resist Germany’s advances toward conquering England. But we refused. It wasn’t until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor killing Americans, did we enter the war. Yet when we were attacked on 9/11, more than twenty countries offered their help.
I am concerned about America, and where we’re going. In many ways, it feels to me, we’re retreating from what made us the greatest nation on Earth. It doesn’t matter who sits in the White House, we are a young country compared to any others and our identity should be, must be still the land of opportunity. And that requires us to look to the others for modeling.