As I was picking up my dry cleaning yesterday, the owner asked me: “Are you American?” After I said yes, he said: I don’t like the US and I don’t like Americans. But now with Obama, I feel like I can like America again. He’s a great man.” When I asked him where he was from, he said: “Syria. And that’s why I didn’t like America.”
It’s always fascinating to me how often I am judged for my homeland. It hasn’t happened for a while, so I have to admit that I was a bit shocked by my cleaner. I’ve been a regular customer for years and the guy always seemed to like me. So it was strange to hear his commentary. Thus as I was walking out, I couldn’t resist saying: You know, we’re all just people, no matter where we come from. At least the cleaner agreed with me. I just hope Obama can live up to the world’s expectations.
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Good comment in the end. I hope you got this guy thinking. Disliking American politics has nothing to do with disliking or liking human beings that happen to have been born on that side of the border. Maybe that’s a thing we have to live with if we want to have democracy: you will never like all the things that the government does, so that’s why voting is so important. Even if you don’t know what to vote for, make a statement and vote against something then.
Through all my travels I have learned that people are people all over the world, and you can NOT dislike a group like Americans or Syrians. I judge people about how they are and not who they are or what they believe in.
Thanks for the word.
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