Sitting on a bench outside Hilton, located on Connecticut Ave in Washington, DC, I watched as an observer. What in particular did I observe? On this particular occasion, I observed people; families, businessmen, foreign nationals and many others of varying cultures and faiths. A cornucopia of cultures, languages, customs, beliefs, and birthrights. And yet, in my mind at least, one thing unified and united all these diverse people. Any ideas on what visual clue, as I sat and observed and chose not to interact with any of these people? Think visual, think easily observable and discernible to the casual observer.
Has the light illuminated the darkness for you? Has the flash of the lightening, instinctive response occurred to you as of yet?
All right, I will not torture those who have not yet received this flash of intuition. The one visual thing that I observed all these varying cultures and peoples and nationalities have in common is their mode of dress.
They were all dressed in either jeans, shirts, athletic shoes or some variations of that costume. It was almost as if the United States has exported a uniform for all US visitors. An unwritten commandment that is passed on is that all visitors to America, the Golden Country, shall dress like an American. That way, they will pass as Americans. After all, they are wearing American uniforms, as it were. And so, despite their differing looks, cultures, coloring, features and languages, the one thing that they, as visitors, have in common with their host country, those United States of America, is their common mode of dress. Personally I find this very sad.
Equally sad, in my mind at least, is what the corporations export to other countries. Rather that export those things that would truly benefit these respective recipient countries. What do we export? Think about satisfying a basic human need; namely food. Think Golden Arches? I think this one was easier to guess, yes? How many countries have you gone to and seen the familiar Arches MacDonald's, or the benign visage of Colonel Sanders. And, you must admit, it made you feel a tad less strange and foreign as here was something immediately recognizable and a reminder of home.
What I find sad, is that among other things, precisely how healthy is a diet of MacDonald's', Kentucky Fried Chicken and the fast food genre? What precisely is wrong with the healthy eating habits of other peoples in their own countries. And, who are we to judge that each culture's native wisdom is inaccurate? That their beliefs, customs, and native foods are inferior to those of the United States?
Thank God, Allah, Buddha for the likes of the Yananamo Tribe located deep in the rain forests of Brazil. Somehow, they are happy with their lives. They remain completely and strangely oblivious to Guess Jeans, Colonel Sanders, Sex and The City, and all those myriad facets of the American Culture.
Maybe we could take a lesson from those Yananamo. Perhaps, we could spend our days, blowing ebene, a powder derived from the bark of a tree, up our nostrils. And, remain blissfully unaware of anything else save our surroundings. It's a thought.