A Different Perspective

Not a day goes by in France without hearing news about the United States. In the newspapers and on the tv, John and I are constantly hearing about the latest political, social, and other miscellaneous happenings in our country, which is why I am no longer surprised when someone from France or Sweden or even Lichtenstein (sp?) knows the names and political leanings of many of our politicians, including the current batch of presidential candidates. It's especially embarrassing for me at times, because aside from knowing who Jacques Chirac is, I can't even tell you the name of one of the 13 presidential candidates in France even though their elections are coming up this Sunday. It always feels a bit strange when someone from another country has a knowledgeable political discussion with me about America, especially when I can't speak much to the politics of other countries other than in a general sense. It gets even worse when one is corrected in front of the entire class by an Italian student on a random tidbit of American history, which happened to me just the other day. Regardless, it is quite obvious that the world, whether they love the US or hate it, is interested in what is happening in our country, which is yet one of many differences that I've discovered while living in France.

In so many other ways I am constantly reminded about how truly unique the US is in the world, from the most minor differences like the 30hr workweek vs the 40+ hr workweek to the entirely different ways in which we Americans think and value what's important in life. Much of the time these little cultural differences come as pleasant reminders of the great things about our country, sometimes funny and sometimes very ordinary, they often make me think that we have it pretty great in America. But then on your way to class one the morning you see the horror at Virginia Tech splashed all over the newspapers, and you can't help but think, why does this happen so much in the US? The reaction in France has seemed to be one of great sympathy for our country right now, apart from the horror at the thought that someone could commit such an atrocity. In reading the French newspapers concerning the tragedy I noticed that they kept using the English terms "mass murder" and "school shootings" in lieu of using a similar phrase in French. Is it that they simply don't have the words for such atrocities, or are they so common in the US as to be better known around the world by their English names?

Whatever the case, it seems to be a problem of the human condition that we have not yet been able to solve. Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and the students at Virginia Tech, and not just John's and mine, but from what I've encountered thus far, the hearts and thoughts of everyone in France as well.