Today I rode down a street just to do it, just to see the US-American flag directly flying above the McDonald's', to see the most well-kept houses left alone and to see the Willis-Tower in a 40 miles distance excelling everything - but with a clarity, authority and superiority I'd never recognized it before.I think the impression was emphasized by the weather today - after a storm people say it's supposed to be extra-ordinary clear.
But I have to admit, nothing's clear. At a first glance, of course: Yaaay, the supermarket's opened 24/7; I get everything xxl-sized including chocolate muffins; I'm offered iced water for free in a restaurant...
... and I know that there must be people working 24/7 to guarantee this service; xxl-sized burgers won't support my health; there's a reason why we spend a higher tip for waitresses than the one in Europe.
Indeed, maybe "just" 5% of the nation's work force are occupied with two jobs. Officially. Furthermore many (17%) think about taking an additional job to ensure their children's college education, which will require fees in astronomic dimensions (the term educational bubble was born). Thus, the number of jobs per person is likely to increase according to some newspapers...
Just, to have mentioned this topic... I mean, it seems to be quite "efficient" to work at two places since people say that you earn more money because the taxes are lower. And your insurance is your choice, too, great! Somehow, it works, but many things stand on disco legs.
To come back to my non-existing topic: I visited a Catholic church around here attending the church's choir. Hearty and sincere people greeted me and I felt like we knew each other for a long time. One of the singers cared about my sheets, instructed me where our voice began etc. Nevertheless, at the end the surprise was waiting. Someone mentioned Europe or a similar matter and the most welcoming woman took a deep breath to outline her position - probably the greatest nonsense I've heard so far: "The other churches are going to take over in Europe and they will say "multiply!" and then the Christians will be persecuted! The politics in Europe are just too moderate... that's what the percentages tell." Fortunately, her daughter (who fell silent) commented that I'm from Germany and the "conversation" was finished. Later, I noticed the "Pro-Life"-Cap which just fit to the picture forming in my head.
In fact, this could happen in Germany, too. And it's "only" been one person out of twenty - moreover those other nineteen singers were honestly friendly as I haven't experienced that in Germany. You're right, I shouldn't compare, but that's just the impression I perceive.
So let's continue comparing ;-) I switched on the TV (take a guess... CNN) and I made a bet with myself that any topic or advertisement would take longer than two minutes until the "Syria Crisis" took over. I lost: 30 sec ... The daily program consists of several blocks, a three quarters for Syria, an eighth for ads and the rest for other news or maybe a movie which is interrupted every 10 min. to inform you about the latest toothpaste technology (ads again). In some way it's fancy to be up-to-date at any time and the small news line at the bottom of the screen tells you what you should know beside the main channel.
Then some friends asked me, if I followed the political debating duel and the election campaign in Germany. Suddenly, I noticed that it hasn't come up in TV over here at all. Germany might not be the most important country, that's true, but I wouldn't cal it irrelevant since the US-German-relation is not too frozen.
Anyway, just to confirm that the US news channel posts one "breaking news" after another about Syria. A German news magazine annotated that their US partners just launched into the subject.
Mh, basically I hope I could provide you an abstract of what's going on here. If you read it (and if I read it ;-)) it sounds in parts negative, but, no worries, there are many positive events maybe outweighing the experiences above :-)
