Here is where I want this to go: We live in the coolest country in the world. Why? Because if I'm in France I better speak, act and/or eat French. If I'm in England I must meet their expectations of what and what-nots to do, if I'm in Thailand I better not point at anything with my foot, it's considered very rude, and so on and so on. In the States? Well... you are free to just about do anything...
When I first moved here, people thought it was great that I spoke Spanish and not much English. They got a kick of trying to teach me words (especially bad ones). What's more, I could date a construction worker if I so desired, or a janitor or anyone making minimum wage. A regular Joe could just as well mingle among the better off in any nightclub and no one would notice the difference. Jews and Catholics could be friends (and their parents wouldn't forbid the friendship). Fashionably speaking, I could one day dress up in a business suit and the next day go out in sweatpants and no one would say a thing. I could wear cowboy boots one week and not the next. I could pretend I'm Holly Golightly and wear a black dress, sunglasses and a big black hat to a party. The possibilities are endless...!
The point is: Where else can you be whoever you WANT to be? Where else can you dress however you WANT to dress?
So all my fellow Argentine-born countrymen/women and the rest of the world can make fun of how WE Americans (I'm an "American by choice") dress, or act, or speak, yet they will never be fortunate enough to feel the liberation of living out from under the ever-watching eyes of criticism - or rather to be able to hear it, grin and yell "yeeeee-hawww!".
Now pass me the ketchup.
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