Compass

Don’t worry about these other countries, at the end of the day I will always be your all-American girl.

Of course, I will return with new tendencies, eclectic jargon, and a stronger admiration for the nations that house the cultures I am experiencing. I will be leaving parts of my heart in these cities that captivate me with their sights, tastes, feelings and most importantly people. But this is how I have always been, wearing my heart on my sleeve and attempting to be “cultured” wherever I go. There are values, traditions, and beliefs from other communities that I will value and adore, and maybe even try to adopt, but I will never speak ill of or go as far to disown my beautiful land of the free.

While being away I have noticed how as Americans we can so easily see a “rich” culture and compare it to our melting pot of country (with each state almost acting as its own country with varying customs, slang, foods, etc) and feel as though we are lacking in nonmaterial things that can be seen in other countries. However, the way that Americans generally over exercise their freedom of speech or be overly rambunctious and loud in foreign lands leads me to conclude that we are blind to the fact that our lives are uniquely crafted having grown up in the U.S. We overlook our playful patriotic phrases like, “America F*** Yeah,” numerous in-n-outs, and loveable stereotypes of baseball games, generosity, and the American Dream. (No, I am not ignorant to the fact that we have negative stereotypes as well, one of which being ignorance, but that is for another time and would be counterintuitive, feeding into the pessimistic view of America that I am negating).

I cannot help myself from marveling at these new customs and valuing the ones that are so rare. But I will not forget that you, my one-of-a-kind country, are without equal.

 

I will always love you.

American Nationalist est. ‘96

 

Riley Makenna