What a Country!: A Love Letter to America

http://watchingamerica.com/News/231093/what-a-country-a-love-letter-to-america/

Please don’t let us know-it-alls in old Europe throw you off your game. You’ll probably have to help us out of some kind of trouble in the end.

What a Country!: A Love Letter to America
Die Welt, Germany
By Frank Schmiechen
Translated By Kelly Barksdale
19 January 2014
Edited by Sean Feely

You welcomed me with open arms. You approached me, interested and friendly. You took me in for four months even though you had no idea who I was, what I could do or what I wanted. You didn’t care. You answered all of my questions, politely ignoring my weird accent and my mediocre English.

~snip~

You celebrate success, rather than eyeing it suspiciously. Anyone can check the Internet to find out for how much and by whom the house across the street was sold. My neighbors drive two large Jeeps — his is black; she drives the white one. The two cars barely fit in the driveway. The neighbor on the other side has a small, blue electric car and a bicycle. They get along anyway. You demand exceptional achievements and originality, and reward them with large amounts of money.

Freedom Has a Price

In your restaurants, I have eaten the best food imaginable. Well, the best hamburgers. Your wines are adorable. Your seas, your mountains, your valleys, your cities, your deserts — these unbelievable landscapes, that we only know from the movies, exist only with you. Most of all the light — one has the constant feeling of being in a tastefully-lit film and of looking much better than one does in Germany.

Yes, on the street corners in your big cities there is plenty of misery. Anyone who doesn’t manage to keep up in your big game of money and achievement finds themselves on the street faster than they would in Germany. Behind your smiles, your happiness and the smooth sound of your language lies a measure of pitilessness. You are well aware of the fact that your freedom, your beauty and your uniqueness come at a price. It must be fought for, and that can make you hard and unjust. But you know that. And as it appears, you are constantly capable of changing, growing and bettering yourself. I like that about you. Please don’t let us know-it-alls in old Europe throw you off your game. You’ll probably have to help us out of some kind of trouble in the end.