Friendly American

At first glance, the term friendly American seems to be an oxymoron. After all look at the ratings of George Bush and the American reputation in the world after the invasion of Iraq. Not a pleasant one. We all know the stereotype that Americans are arrogant and rude yet that is a stereotype and stereotypes were made to be broken.

We had a friend of the family visit from Texas the other week. He was a really nice guy. He was totally American but he wasn’t rude or arrogant at all. In fact, him being from a small town made it somewhat shocking for him to see how rude many Canadians can be in a larger city. Back home people are friendly he said. They smile and say hello and ask how you are doing. He had several incidents in Canada where people were rude and confrontational.

OK so we live in Surrey and Surrey has a bad reputation but it is hardly a large city like Toronto. I think it’s a valid observation that we are all in a hurry and are stressed. The cost of living versus wages has put added stress on us as what was within reach for a family on a single income when we were kids is simply out of reach for a double income family today.

I’m sure there are many factors but my point is a simple one about stereotypes. I’ll have to admit I did have a falling out with a former long time American friend over the Bush thing. His blind devotion to Bush and absolute contempt for any democrat’s desire for peace or fair medical insurance was met with offensive mockery. When Mitt Romney mocked Hillary Clinton's desire for better medical coverage by referring to it as Hillary’s House of Terror, I was somewhat offended.

Martin Luther King said "As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy, even if I just got a good checkup at the Mayo Clinic. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are all interdependent."

Some called Martin Luther King a Communist. That was absurd. He was a preacher. Having a social conscience doesn’t make you a Communist. My former friend cited Abraham Lincoln and basically said that if you don’t support the war in Iraq you are guilty of treason. To me that was absurd and sounded more like an argument from Stalin the one they are so deathly afraid of. If you dare criticize the government you are guilty of treason. What ever happened to free speech and the American dream?

Hey wait a minute, Martin Luther King was a friendly American. Yeah, but they shot him dead. Point taken. However, they all didn’t shoot him. Many marched beside him. One of my biggest pet peeves with American society is the intolerance. A guy from Boston wrote a profane but eloquent discourse on the North versus South struggle on f*ckthesouth dot com. That kind of sums up my feelings on the matter. Why would anyone want to live in a state where the majority of them fought a war for the right to keep slaves. Those are not the kind of people I want to live with.

Yet last month I spent a week traveling back and forth to Blaine for my son to attend a Jazz Festival there. It was so nice to rub shoulders with so many talented Americans and never once talk about politics. The subject never came up at all. I have no idea who were republicans and who were democrats. They were friendly and supportive. Once again a small town but surely you can see where I’m going with this.

The friend from Texas said back home they don’t talk about politics. It only starts fights. When someone starts they just say hold it right there, you know we’re just going to get in a fight about this and change the subject. Interesting.

I do think politics is a moral obligation and free speech a fundamental right. Yet I have been enlightened having met some friendly Americans and some unfriendly Canadians. I guess a person should be judged by the content of their character not by the country on their passport. Cheers.