Being American

Being American

Is being American as bad as it seems?

In this piece, I am not talking about being American by nationality or residence in the USA

I am talking about the normalization; that you can be Egyptian or Arab in general, and you live like Americans in your own country.

All my life, I have been watching American movies and TV shows, reading books written and printed in the USA, and chatting with American people.

You can simply say that I have been indulging myself, or to be more accurate; acting as a sponge absorbing everything has to do with the American culture.

If I had the remote control, I almost won’t take my fingers away from MBC channels or Fox channels

If I had an internet access, I navigate online American shows n websites

It has a great deal with me; a fluent speaker of English...You can say I am so good and for my own condolence that I am not totally wasting my time taking in all this amount of American culture, is that I sometimes take my finger up or down to Huda TV and BBC News.

Being American teaches you how to accept one another, no matter what differences you have!

Americans embrace homosexuals, (although I know I might be endangering myself to an enormous attack by the religious people I know in person, and those who I don’t know)

My point is that they accept any difference even if it is personally appalling or not acceptable for their complex of principals.

I accept my friends, my husband, and my family members for the way they are; that’s their defining criteria... it is not my business to object or ask them to change their habits or characters for my own sake… for example, I would not ask a friend to stop listening to a certain type of music; like Metallica just because they are not my type… it is her taste, she is free to listen to whom she likes unless it is not affecting me in person that the music is too loud or something n it is hurting my ears

Being American makes you simple, deletes the complication n sophistication in your life… you don’t have to wax your whole body hurting yourself for the quest of perfection n eternal beauty… you can simply shave :D

Americans are not after perfection like the Europeans, driven from the Latin culture n obviously applied in France with their perfect body figures n table manners or in Italy with their perfect recipes for pizza n pasta.

No one is perfect n they accept that fact quite well.

Being American tells you how to enjoy your life, despite your busy schedule or your time-consuming career…

If you’re bored, overwhelmed with work, exhausted, depressed, you have only one thing to do:

Prep for a trip!

I really think that these people have a great know-how of getting the best use of their time in order to find their own pleasure or entertainment

Try Oprah!

Not only trips (just because it is my favorite, it does not mean they are out of ideas)

You can take a class; dance, cooking, learning a new language, or yoga

I wish that these ideas are applied in Egypt n one day you may find a class of cooking or belly dancing in your neighborhood n they are not hard/ rare to find anymore

What do we actually copy from Americans?

Not the good aspects of course!

We took:

Junk food n over-weight problems: Due to the high carbs found in such food like potato chips, mayonnaise, hot dogs, burgers, coke

Having a boyfriend/girlfriend: as if this is what ‘being cool’ is about, even people are no longer disgusted if they see a couple hugging or touching in public

Worst dressing styles ever: which they don’t even use anymore; low-waist pants, shredded skirts, tight T-shirts for men (that I guess were made by a gay guy to check out others lbs), tight everything else for girls

Why?

Can anyone tell me why?

Why are we so blindly prejudiced to use that culture in our own contexts for our own good?

I refuse

I reject

I despise

Anyone who tells me that I am stupid letting myself be normalized or I am so influenced by the Americans n their culture n life style that I don’t even see the beauty of my Islam or my Arabic culture

For those I say; don’t worry! My Arabian Islamic character is doing just fine n my identity is in my heart I don’t have to look for it

For God’s sake, I am twenty-four

I can judge

I can tell what’s right or wrong

I can differentiate between what’s good n bad

And so, I am CHOOSING what’s good for me whether it is from the American culture or my own culture

If you please, accept me for who I am n for what I believe inIf you please, accept me for who I am n for what I believe in