I’ve recently returned from two weeks’ vacation in Italy, arriving home just in time to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. As of this week, the office will be back open and running as usual. Thank you to all of our patients for their understanding while we took our annual vacation.
While nobody really cares (nor should they) what a small town doctor thinks about the world at large, I’m going to use this post to just make a few brief comments about the United States on this momentous date.
One of the great things about travelling abroad is being able to see and learn from other cultures. And certainly I greatly enjoyed my two weeks in Italy. Exploring ancient Roman ruins, viewing some of the most famous medieval and renaissance art, hiking through the beautiful Italian countryside, and sampling the fabulous Italian cuisine were all wonderful experiences. And as I often note when travelling abroad, there are health related habits that we Americans can learn from other countries. The Italian (and more broadly, European) tendency to eat less processed foods, to control portion sizes, to walk more, and of having a more laid back lifestyle are all factors that help explain why Italians have a longer average life expectancy than Americans. We would do well to copy some of these habits.
At the same time, one of the other benefits of travelling abroad is that it helps to clarify what is so great about the United States. The fact is that, as wealthy as Italy is (it remains a “G7” country and a nation with a long life expectancy and a fairly high standard of living), its economy pales in comparison to the United States in ways both big and small. For example, we frequently found ourselves in shops and restaurants without air conditioning, despite sweltering temperatures of nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Getting through a day in Italy often involves a lot of “nickel and dime” type of transactions such as having to pay for a glass of water at a restaurant, or for use of a public toilet, that one would not ever have to think about in the United States. And as frustrating as customer service can be in the USA, I return with a real appreciation for it after some of the things we experienced during our recent trip (for example, we had an experience at a car rental agency that more closely resembled a Monty Python sketch than an actual business transaction).
America is by no means perfect and there are plenty of well-justified criticisms of it, culturally, economically, and politically. But it’s worth reflecting on the fact, at the 250th anniversary of the nations’ founding, that it remains a place worth celebrating.
America is a country of vast natural beauty and remarkable, thriving cities. A country that has provided refuge for immigrants from every corner of the globe, most of whom have been able to create good lives for themselves. A country that continues to have the world’s largest and most creative economy and which remains the global leader in science and technology. A country with a flourishing arts scene. A country where basic civil liberties such as free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to due process under a rule of law are – despite many challenges in recent years – still very much intact. A country that has, however imperfectly, become vastly freer, fairer, more diverse, and more tolerant throughout its history. And a country where, despite the constant stream of negativity from both the mainstream press and social media, most people remain decent, kind, hardworking, and generous to their neighbors and communities.
All of the above remains even more stunning when one steps back and appreciates it within the grand sweep of human history. For the truth is that while we tend to take our freedom, peace, and prosperity for granted, throughout most of human history the vast, vast, vast majority of humans lived short, difficult lives of crushing poverty, hunger, disease, war, and abuse from the state. And while America is frequently criticized (often with good justification) for not living up to its ideals, it’s worth remembering that the idea of the average person having basic rights, dignity, and a chance to have at least a middle-class lifestyle was essentially invented by the United States. Even today in vast swathes of the world, these features of American society do not exist. To me it seems that the correct attitude to the USA is to be mindful of its flaws (and work to fix them) but not to lose sight of the fact that all societies have flaws, and this is still arguably the greatest time and place to be alive in the entirety of human history.
So I hope you and your family have a very happy 4th of July. And I hope on this momentous anniversary, we Americans can come together for just a moment to remember that for all of its problems, we really are extremely lucky to be able to call this place home.
