I Am an American - Returning from our Trip to Europe

We have returned from a very enjoyable two week trip to The Netherlands and Germany and as I attempt to get my juices flowing again for the blog I am trying to decide what was the most significant thing about this trip.  We had new experiences, met new people, tried new foods, heard new languages and yet what keeps popping into my head as I think is..."coming home" and the huge sense of gratitude I felt that I am a citizen of the United States.

I think one value of foreign travel is that you can look back on the distant shore you have left and gain a new perspective of "home."  I want to be an informed person and since my husband dissects the three newspapers we still have delivered to our house, I feel compelled to try to keep pace with him by reading the news.  It is easy to become cynical, to see only the warts on our red, white and blue.  There IS bad news...the economy, the financial debacle, the inability of our elected legislators to work together for the good of the nation and to resolve issues, the high unemployment...and on and on.  Yet despite all this negativity, when looked at it as a whole, we who grace these shores live in a land that continues to offer freedom, to place a value on the individual and to present an environment of choice and multiple options for its people...elements that are envied and longed for by others.

The image that comes to my mind is of an incident that occurred when we were in the lovely Romantic Rhine River village of Bacharach.  It was the day before we were to return home and we wanted to walk the streets of the lovely town that has a medieval feel with winding narrow streets, to walk atop the remains of the town wall, and to hike as far as we could up to the castle.  About halfway to the castle we stopped at a stone platform with low stone wall that looked out over the neighboring vineyards. 

Patricia and Jay in Bacharach

A young man, about 20 years old, approached us holding out his camera and gestured with the question, "Would we take a picture of him and his girlfriend?"  We did and then we began to talk to them.  They were eager to practice their English and did not want to move on.  So, we discovered that they were from East Germany.  They were students, he of Automotive Engineering and she of Business Management of Health Systems.  They did not remember the coming down of the Berlin Wall but they remembered the hard times as Eastern Germany tried to get on its feet.  Life is better for them now but it is not perfect. 

Jay talking to the young couple.

When they asked where lived and heard our response of the United States, the state of California, the only word to describe the look on their face was "hunger."  They had never been to the US but they said with deep emotion..."To go to the United States is our highest dream."

Europe is a wonderful place to visit.  It is full of history and lessons of the struggle to survive through some difficult eras.  It gifts visitors with its art, its landscape, its music and literature.  As descendants of immigrants it is also our heritage.  But what we have in the United States is the gift of possibility. There is always the opportunity to reinvent yourself, to begin anew, to succeed through your own efforts and capabilities. We possess an energy, an optimistic can-do philosophy that will continue to serve us well.  I am so proud to be an American and so grateful to be home.