America and her spacious skies

I teach foreign languages, so I spend a great deal of time talking about life in other countries. I show pictures of beautiful places and share information about cultures that are very different from our own. There is almost always a student in the class who raises his or her hand and asks “Mrs. Jarman, why are you still living in the U.S.? Why don’t you move to Europe?”

I guess it’s because I love all of the land that is the U.S., “from the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam.” I love the wide open spaces that are part of my home. What many of my students do not realize is that the large majority of Europeans live in apartments and in cities. The United States is a sizeable country; we’ve got lots of space. There’s plenty of room to spread out. Of course, that space has facilitated urban sprawl, but it sure is nice to stretch out.

There are times when I like to ride to Harpers Ferry or up to Greenbriar State Park and just take a nice quiet stroll, hike a trail, or wander down the C & O Canal towpath. I like deserted, quiet streets. It’s peaceful and pleasant.

My daughter and son-in-law live in The Netherlands, one of the world’s most densely populated countries. It’s difficult to find deserted, quiet streets to stroll down. There are parks and many beautiful places, but solitude can be difficult to come by.

I love to drive down highways in Arizona and Nevada and to be in the only car on the road. I like to roll down the window and sing at the top of my lungs and know that no one will hear me. Sometimes I’ll pull over on the side of the road and gaze out at the wide open space, the beauty of the mountains and the red sky as the sun sets over the peaks. I love those spacious skies!

When we were living in Texas years ago, I used to love to drive the car on the beach. We could sit out on the roof of the car and watch the waves roll in. Many times it was quiet and peaceful because we were the only ones on the beach!

I like big parking lots with lots of space to park my car, neighborhoods with big yards, school yards with lots of sports fields and playgrounds. I like space and I am blessed to live in a country that has so much wide open, beautiful space.

America, the beautiful!

America The Big

I teach foreign languages, so I spend a great deal of time talking about life in other countries. I show pictures of beautiful places and share information about cultures that are very different from our own. There is almost always a student in the class who raises his or her hand and asks “Mrs. Jarman, why are you still living in the U.S.? Why don’t you move to Europe?”

The truth is that I wouldn’t fit in so well in Europe, partly because I am American. I’m big, not just in size, but in thought and in deeds. If I want to show my school spirit or team spirit, I can be loud. I have my purple flamingos in my backyard and my light-up Ravens player out in front of the house during football season to show my team pride. There’s also a lot of Oriole paraphernalia in the yard during baseball season. I’m loud about my teams! We have Raven and Oriole shirts, hats, key rings, chairs, cups, glasses…yes, all of those capitalist/consumerism society necessities! It’s American.

I like my tacky, slightly obnoxious holiday decorations. We have decorated trees, bears, toys, even decorated decorations at Christmas. Some homes here in the U.S. have huge air-filled creatures hovering over front yards to celebrate Christmas and other holidays. Most Europeans haven’t discovered the joys of Halloween, and we go crazy over it! Pumpkins, orange flowers, ghosts, goblins, fairies, and monsters decorate homes everywhere.

I love shopping in nice, big stores that offer every gadget that I could possibly imagine. I like big shopping carts to carry all of the big items I plan to purchase and decorate my house with! There are stores over-stocked with an unlimited selection of a multitude of items.

We have our McMansions that have more bedrooms than most families will ever need. And heaven knows that we Americans love our big cars. You don’t see many Jeeps or pick-up trucks cruising down the highways in Europe

And we’re loud! We like loud music, loud announcements…go into a restaurant in any city in Europe and odds are that the loudest clients are American. We want people to know that we’re here!

When my friend, Martine, arrived to spend two weeks in the U.S. with us several years ago, she looked at the houses and the cars and some of the people and remarked “Everything is so big here in America.” She’s right, we’re big, we’re bold, and we’re American!

America, Land of Opportunity

I teach foreign languages, so I spend a great deal of time talking about life in other countries. I show pictures of beautiful places and share information about cultures that are very different from our own. There is almost always a student in the class who raises his or her hand and asks “Mrs. Jarman, why are you still living in the U.S.? Why don’t you move to Europe?”

With a smile on my face, I usually answer that I don’t move because I am American. Of course, there are those times when I travel and see American tourists behaving as if everything that happens in Europe will stay in Europe. I cringe when I see fellow Americans who don’t understand that they represent every American to most Europeans.

I remember speaking to a group of French high school students who were exceptionally well-behaved even though I had been warned by the teachers that there were some behavior problem students in the class. The students gushed that they had never met a “real” American before. They had only seen images from sitcoms and other U.S. television broadcasts.

I’m happen to be very proud to be American. I’m proud to be part of a culture that encourages individuality. Be the best that you can be. I’m part of a culture that embraces the idea that if I work hard enough, I can achieve my dreams; a culture that offers second chances.

In many European school systems, students are tracked around the eighth grade. Based on academic performance, students are funneled into programs that are geared towards future university study or preparation for administrative or manual work forces. If you are tracked for university, your tuition is paid for by the government when you enter college. Many American students envy their European counterparts as they struggle to find ways to finance a college degree.

Yes, tuition is paid for, if you get there. But when I think about many of my students who in ninth, tenth, or even eleventh grade are still not sure what they want to do after high school, I worry about what would happen if they were tracked in eighth grade. It doesn’t leave much room for exploration and consideration of other possibilities. And late-bloomers are certainly not going to have many opportunities in European school systems.

The beauty of being American is that we are all so very different, and that makes us so interesting…and so special!

This blogpost appeared as my monthly column, The Empty Nest, in the Frederick News Post on July 1, 2012.