In American culture, we value aspects of our lives that cause us to be ostracized on the world stage. We are blunt, busy, and breathtakingly over the top. As an American, I take luxuries and abnormal U.S. habits for granted every single day. Here are just a few.
As a people, we block out our days like it's our job. No time to relax or regroup. A moment spent on the couch or in a bed are seen as simply a waste. In most of the world, you might come back from the market on a scenic road on the outskirts of town. In the states, we use Map Quest. The site simply finds the fastest route possible. We pay our psychologists and baseball trainers by the hour. We pay for food to be served to us within a few minutes of the order. These are all normal, day-to-day American activity that we find no qualms with. Much of the world is shocked.
Achievements make or break every American's day. It's not our fault that we have developed this habit of constant forward thinking, but society has demanded it. We spend every second looking towards the future, eager to conquer the goals laid in front of us, like a carrot on a stick. We are taught that the pursuit of goals results in a "successful" life. A simple life, with a garden and a nice little house, does not do it these days. We need mansions and six figure incomes to be "successful". This is why the world thinks we're crazy and infatuated with ourselves, because we are.
This post is unmistakably correct. As Americans, time is extremely important to us. We value time like we value equality or our privacy. To someone from a different country, we would seem to be more concerned with getting things done, and fast, than we are with connecting with people and creating relationships. We are controlled by machines that read three or four numbers, telling us we're running late or early. We depend on clocks, watches, and cellphones to keep our lives from falling apart. We see only 24 hours in a day, and Americans couldn't fathom wasting one second. This way of life has created an extremely productive society, but also generations of stressed-out Americans. We see with each day that comes, another mere 24 hours to get things done. The problem is that's all we are seeing; not time we could spend with our family or loved ones, not time we could use bonding with a friend, or reading a book. We only see the opportunity to make good use of our time or waste it away, and noting in between.
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