Thursday, February 23, 2012

90 Days with the Superpower: My Perspective

The flight from Frankfurt to Seattle took me to the Superpower. My maiden trip to United States of America. The land of sun and honey!

I grew up hearing the power of the Dollar and how it changed lives of many. I studied in schools where friends left mid-term to go and complete that term in the USA. I finished my education with classmates having the US-dream in their eyes and talk. But the skill I majored in had less or no aspirants for the US dream.

Where do I fall in? In the "undecided" category :)

Because of which I stepped on the Land on Liberty with an open mind. No agenda (to make money), no misgivings (as I did not listen much to US stories from others) and no determination to stay on (as I believe each nation belongs to its national).

The State of Washington is the evergreen state and is claimed by all even on the number plate of cars! Seattle is where I was housed for 90 days and in a town called Bellevue. Work place was in Issaquah.

(I could be way, way wrong from what you have seen or experienced of USA)

I used the public transport to commute to and from work. I used the 120 minutes of the day to observe USA from a common man’s perspective. What the economists, number crunching-elite business school experts present to world are lifeless numbers but what I witnessed were common US citizens who lived using the numbers seen on the currency notes in their wallet.

(I could be way, way wrong from what you have seen or experienced of USA)

There was a morning, I took a different bus that got filled by Asians and not a single US national. If any US national had got into the bus on that day, he would have either stepped off thinking he woke up in an Asian country or got depressed seeing so many forgiven nationals on way to work in his nation. But it is here USA stands apart and is always respected for: ACCEPTANCE AND TOLERANCE for new ideas, people, concepts, cultures, values took birth in USA and is still relevant everywhere in the US.

What nations across the world, fail to imitate the USA is how well the nationals or taxpaying citizens are taken care by putting back the tax payers money in building excellent roads, drainage systems, public amenities, how self-reliant nationals are, instead of moaning about lack of handymen, everybody takes care of their residential needs on their own, how the public respect government and public property and do not damage them….

What other nations should not imitate is the expensive education system after high school, how expensive and complicated the health care and insurance sectors are, how shopping has been made a daily event with non-stop discounts throughout the year, encouraging use of cards for credit history, not putting enough and visible efforts to encourage savings etc…

(I could be way, way wrong from what you have seen or experienced of USA)

There were reports of unemployment on the rise in the US as I left my homeland. Nowhere did I see any unemployment, with people flashing cards and walking out of JCPennys, Macys, Targets, Costcos etc with shopping bags full of branded goods.

….till that evening in December, when I saw a very young man around 25 years old walking past my friend’s car as I watched him carry the placard saying, “Jobless. Homeless. Hungry.” Why was a 25 year old hungry in the Land of Sun and Honey?

Three blocks down the street in Seattle, I saw a board hung on a shop window: “Now Hiring”…

Both these visuals become a common sight as days went by…

I could be way, way wrong from what you have seen or experienced of USA)

As I travelled from one end to the other, realized our world is a beautiful place to live in… be it India or USA.

I took off from the Land of Liberty, developing a bond of respect with USA and my bond with my homeland got a notch stronger!