The Truth About Americans

BEFORE I came to America, I might have thought that Americans are:

1. Lazy, couch potatoes, TV addicted people

2. Barbaric war lovers, gun mongering creatures, violence addicts

3. Crazy about sports (They always win the olympics!) especially the game “football” (which is only about less than 7% they played the ball with their feet)

4. Racist, intolerant, they hate Muslims, labeling us terrorists

5. Very discriminant, they hate strangers, they will bully someone from some random country like Indonesia

6. Close minded, hateful, pessimistic people, stupid and unknowledgeable

7. Selfish individualistic people let their neighbors die in starvation, only care about themselves

8. No ethics, religion or anything, hedonistic lifestyle and all about alcohol sex and drugs

9. Too proud of themselves, other nations are viewed as low class human being

10. They might be big coffee drinkers and fulltime gum chewers

AFTER I came to America, this is the truth of what I see about Americans:

1. Hard working, “make it happen” type of people. But still addicted to TV though (and internet, Netflix, instagram etc. You name it)

2. Peace lovers, they absolutely HATE wars. They support their veterans like superheroes. They don’t want wars (please differ American people from American government. The government is another different thing)

3. OBSESSED about sports! (And that’s why they always win the Olympics!) Works out so much.

4. Commonly very tolerant, racial comment or stereotyping is strongly opposed by the society. (And they don’t hate Muslims; they will try to provide Muslims place for prayer if we ask. Very respectful)

5. Very, very open to strangers, they will smile and will be very friendly to you. You can meet a stranger and talk for hours then you will be close friends. Really. (And they won’t laugh at you if your grammar or your English is a mess; they understand and will help you. I guess even people in my country are the more harsher critics of other people’s English)

6. Open minded, accepting difference, very smart and good in giving opinions, talking, and arguing yet they will be tactful in debates on your position (nothing will be taken personal, most of the time).

7. Very caring, often they put other people first. They will help with the best that they can do, anytime. They do it willing fully, with their heart (or in Indonesian we usually say “tulus/ikhlas”)

8. Ethical and religious people. The society encourages people to have strong moral values and virtues. Very strong common sense. Will try to combat problems of society together. They will defend their values and virtues.

9. Proud of themselves as a nation, proud about their history. They respect their history a lot (they even turned a Civil War battlefield, Gettysburg, into some sort of a vacation place). They see their country as a great country, while they see other nations (especially Third World) as a nation they are willing to help to develop.

10. They ARE big coffee drinkers and fulltime gum chewers

America is not a nation united by race, but America is a nation united by ideals, by a vision to attain hope, freedom, peace and opportunity to everyone. America is a nation full of spirit, and the national goal is to achieve their dream, in the notion that everybody in America can be anything they want if they work hard to accomplish it. America is a great nation; an idea proved to be successful after hundreds of year and influenced the rest of the world to create a place full of opportunities.

And that’s why I love America.