Just Another Reason...

I have a bone to pick with the idiot gringos who appear on the news in airports across the country today. The ones who were vacationing in Canucn the past few weeks, who rode out the hurricane... I in no way wish I could experience a hurricane, and I'm sure their experiences were quite traumatizing. But seriously... On national news tonight, there were interviews with people still in Cancun, and those who just got home. Some of their comments: "I'm an American! Where was the United States when I was down there going through this thing?!" "We had no airconditioning, no electricity, no hot meals, and there were hundereds of us packed into the hotel lobby." (Sorry, not direct quotes because I don't have a photografic memory). I have to say this: "You, gringo, were not in YOUR country, you were being cared for as best as possible by the country you chose to vacation in. YOU have a home to come back to, one that will most likely look the same as it did last time you saw it - still will have the 90% of your possessions in it that you didn't take to Mexico with you. YOU have your two suitcases of clothes with you, the ones that you took on vacation with you. YOU got to stay in the hotel lobby for several nights before you got an airline ticket out of there. YOU had food, even though it may have been cold beans." What about the people who LIVE in carribean Mexico? The ones whose homes didn't withstand the hurricane like your hotel lobby did. I'm sorry, but blaming the Mexican or United States governments for not putting you up in a functioning 5 star hotel during this thing is completely unrealistic. In a situation like this YOUR personal comfort takes back seat to the SAFETY of yourself and others. No airconditioning in Cancun? Uncomfortable? Yes. But, um, you survived! I don't hear ANY of the vacationers giving a crap about those within a few miles of those who DIED beacuse of the hurricane, or those who lost everything they owned and have no where to turn now. I realize that the news can't interview everyone, although I'm not sure why they'd choose to show just the interviews that make gringos look completely self-centered and uncaring... I choose to believe that SOME of those gringo survivors DO care about those around them that suffered more than going without airconditioning (that they most likely never had in the first place...)

So, why do other countries have such a bad image of the United States? Why do they think we're completely materialistic and self-centered? Probably because they see those same kinds of interviews that I saw tonight. And because lots of us ARE completely materialistic and self-centered.