Ciao!

Well, I'm out of America now so I'm gonna write what I remember about that life.

Living in America was like sitting in a large, soft, cushy, couch. One of the most comfortable you will rest on. America was built by a herd of dreamers. Dreaming is a legacy and seen as a right. It's a giant Disneyland. A lot of indulgence, a belief in a land of opportunities, excess choices, both great and bad. The problem with living in Fantasyland for a period of time is that it covers your eyes and numbs your mind.

The best thing abiout America, besides having four seasons, is the values it instills in its people.

America, the United States that is, is the idiom--no, the prototype!--of the modern world. The Renaissance could not have happened if it didn't happen. America embodies that modern world. And I think it still acts like that, like it hasn't lost that edge. Americans call themselves 'jacks of all trades', but really they are devoted to the universalism that the Enlightenment was all about: the auto mechanic that will scold you down about the ancient Greeks; the circuit judge who can drink you under the table; the waiter that dances the line between Buddha and pervert and can, in the meantime, sketch a passing portrait of you on an Etch-a-sketch. That is America.

America is also about mobility. Where else can a man go from pauper to prince, prince to pauper, so readily? This is a country built on the promise of free land and the fine print about how hard that land can be. This is the land that took banditry and turned it into a mystical romance: The Wild Wild West (thank you, Will Smith!). But more importantly, it's the only place in the world where, in every podunk town, there are hundreds, thousands, of youths looking to New York or Los Angeles to 'make it'. There is no similarity in any other country to this phenomenon: Paris does not really draw the youth of France; Rome does not really draw the youth of Italy (except the clergically minded, and those don't count. None of these are like the big American two). No, America embodies mobility in both physical and social terms--in fact, probably in psychological terms too! The posterboy for America better be either from the dirt and worked up to success or from the cream and found his way down to the honest fold. That's what America's about.

I sense a run-on coming... America is about physicality. We cannot compete with the French for their inspiration--no matter how many Jeffersons we have. We cannot compete with the Germans for their analysis--no matter how many Dewey's we have. We are a firmer bunch though. We have our strengths, and our strength is actual strength. We can pick you up. We can lift your car. We can hide your house. We can do whatever we want...NOT because we have better technology or more money or are banal. No, we will do it because we are just that strong. We can do it, and we know it...and will do it just to make you irritated. Many of us call this 'abuse of power'. I call it taking a stretch. More than any country in the world, we take pride in how far we've come in our strength. We shout it at any who ask and the truth is: we really are that tough. I'd wager to say that if you asked any American--even the little goth girl that drinks coffee at your local shop--what he or she thought of an all out war against Rome would be like, he or she would agree: Let's have it out! The Romans aren't that great! (even if they can't find Rome on a map). I think I've lost my point, but maybe not. The bottom line is this...America is about strength, not power or intelligence or even goodness...it's about strength. And that's why I love it. That's what America is to me.

Love,
Micah

That's a strange coincidence. Earlier today, I was writing in my journal about that same topic, basically. That question is something that has interested me for a long time, mostly because one of my American Lit profs asked the class whether or not there is one singular America. I don't know how to answer the question, yet, though-- still working on it. Maybe I'll get back to answering your question.

Posted my own "interpretation of the task" at "Aufbau Ost" including a plea to my readers to follow the task as well. Let's see what others write. Good topic.

What's America mean to me, hm! That's a tough question to answer.........

America means for me, a place I can call home, even though I wasn't born there. It means vastness of space, wild forests, dense desserts, mountains, valleys and beautuful sea shores. Also, modern cities, small picturesque towns and agricultural land, all living side by side.

At a more personal level, it means long Summers and even loooooooger Winters. Summer days in which, if I want to go to the sauna, I just have to step outside. Winter days in which my breath freezes on my scarf.

America means a day out in Washington DC, visiting the FREE museums, or just sitting around the mall. It means Great Falls, the Potomac river, lake Bradock, Accotink lake, Tysons Corner, Potomac Mills.

It also means a stroll along the streets of McLean. It means, apple picking, wine and chesse picknicking, pumpking picking, just a 20 min. drive down Rt. 7 or 66.

It means packed rush hour traffick in 495, rushing to get a parking space at Metro, neighborhoods springing up like mushrooms in the forest.

It means all those things, and much more. But above all....it means home.

It means for me a place where I can make a phone call and someone will talk to me and not only talk to me, but usually tell me the truth without fear or conflict of interest. It is a place where the money always works, the banks always work, the fear of different kinds of robbery, state or criminal, does not exist. It is a place where I can get service. A place where if I don't like something, I can move on to something else. A place where everything is here and a place where I can talk to anyone I want. I am a journalist, and I do mean that literally.