June 25th, 2008, a Wednesday

What is it about America anyway?  Don't get me wrong.  I have lived here for a long time now (although I have lived abroad at least as long) and I love it.  The best country on earth, they say.  But Americans have issues.  Big issues. 

We all know that Americans eat too much.  Oversized portions, fast food, junk food, soda and lots of red meat.  Veggies and a cold glass of milk aren't all that popular anymore and besides, it seems everyone you run into is allergic to dairy.   So safe to say, America is a country of culinary indulgence.  

We also know that Americans tend to be sedentary for the most part.  This comes along with cable tv expanding our viewing choices to hundreds of channels which makes it so easy to park on the couch with that snack food mentioned above and stay for hours, for years, for lifetimes.  And video games keep kids entertained without even going outside to play.  It also can make them crazy but oh, well.  Hey, now you can work out to a video game.  And don't get me started on the internet age and no child left without a computer.  (The things any self-respecting kid can find on a computer would slay a lesser bear.  I just happen to be internet savvy, having my own blog and all.)  And you can watch movies on DVD so you don't even go to a theatre.  And so many Americans work at home now, eliminating not only the commute and a reason to get dressed in the morning, but social contact with co-workers as well.  (But then there are those mass killings in the workplace that seem to be happening more frequently.  I wonder if they take place more often in America than in other countries.)

Take sports, for example  Having lived abroad, I know that the rest of the world is in love with soccer.  But it has never really caught on in the US.  Most think it is because there is not enough scoring for America's taste.  Why, you can watch 120 minutes of regulation and overtime in the Eurocup without a single score.  But then you are treated to a shootout where it is all decided in what seems like a quick moment, one man with a ball and the other a goal to defend.  Yup, the world seems to love that.  But America is all about the other kind of football.  Sure, defense is important in the NFL but there is a lot of hitting and grunting and chest pounding involved while wearing pads and a helmet so you can't really see the faces of the players.  In soccer, they wear shorts and their team jersey and their individual trademark hairdos can be seen blowing in the wind as they run and run and run.  A foul can be a simple trip or a more aggressive confrontation for which they may be punished by a yellow or the dreaded red card.  And there is plenty of drama.  When a player goes down, you think this time he has really broken his leg or worse as he writhes in pain on the beautiful green turf.  It becomes entertainment as you realize that he isn't really hurt that bad when he pops up and starts running down the field again.  The crowd goes wild.  What passion!  There is plenty of "passion" for the NFL but it's not the same somehow.  No, it's more like the gladiator versus lion events at the Roman Colisseum with the crowd screaming for blood.  Soccer, on the other hand and in comparison, is so romantic.  

In America we love our movies.  But if they are subtitled, we refer to them as foreign "films".  Nowhere in the American culture can we see the difference between ourselves and the rest of the world more clearly than in the world of filmmaking.  American movies are big, bold, colorful, often overproduced, overacted and the more special effects the better.  Foreign films are incredibly subtle with achingly beautiful small performances that are so real looking you can hardly imagine there is a camera anywhere in sight.  It is most evident in the performances of child actors.  In movies, they are well lit, well directed and carefully handled.  In films, they are left more to their own dramatic devices creating a truer sense of childhood rather than a manufactured one.  Yes, in America we seem to have trouble just letting things be what they naturally are.  Americans can be pretty controlling that way.

Now I don't want to give you the impression that I am being critical of the good ole US of A.  She's an amazing country, full of charisma, patriotism and impressive accomplishments.  And if you want to figure out who you are, no better place to do it than right here.  That's because Americans value freedom more than anything else.  It's pretty cool to live in a place where a bear can have a blog.  I wasn't born here (at least according to today's story) and I'm not even sure a bear gets to claim a nationality.  But, with your permission, I will consider myself an American teddy bear, true to the red, white and blue.  But secretly I will be watching Turkey play Germany in the semis today because I used to live in Turkey.  But that's another story....

GR