Sunday, April 15, 2007

Misconceptions

Well, I thought that new beginnings might lead to new revelations, but it wasn't to be. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of the week I spent in my European homeland, Holland, but I didn't feel the sense of rejuvenation that you might expect after the foreseeable death of a family member. I felt that maybe, I might find that elusive national identity, something that I am yet to experience. Not that that's a bad thing. I would be lying if I didn't enjoy being able to choose between America, Holland and Britain. But that has its drawbacks. Wherever I go, I always find myself sticking up for at least one of the three, and nowhere more so that the UK, where a fair number of its citizens have really bought into the island mentality, shunning the Euro and other ideas deemed as too "continental". But particularly irritating is the general attitude towards the US, with the vast majority of people looking at is a "Supersize" country - too much energy and food consumed, too many obese people, too many cars, etc. I'm not saying America is innocent - far from it - but it seems naive to criticise another country when all is not well at home. The sad thing is that a lot of opinions are based on misconceptions, from the highest levels of government (unless Bush is truly evil, he did think that Iraq has WMDs) to the ordinary citizen. So I have some advice for everyone. Think before you speak, and then think some more.

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