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!