Land of the Friendly, Home of the Safe

”So how have you liked America thus far?” Well, I’ve liked it very much. Thank you for asking. Although I must say that my experiences have differed very much from the cynical views many of my friends back in Finland hold of this country. Let’s generalize and call it the “European humanist” view.
Even though the impending era of the Obama-caliphate will soften this view, I think it would still place America somewhere between “superpower” and “the great Satan”. Who knows why? Maybe it’s because “God blesses America” much more often than any other place and we are jealous. But this only goes to prove how the negatives are often emphasized over the positives.

Many interesting things have made life here so easy and comfortable for me. Take the American people. Many foreigners would generally label them as either arrogant, rednecks or arrogant rednecks, but everyone I’ve met so far has been very nice and warm. Everyone even remotely familiar always says hello and asks how I’ve been doing, even if I’m only passing them on the sidewalk. In the late-night lines of pizza parlours, I have looked several men in the eyes for a few seconds and none of them have become aggravated about whether I had implied something about them being gay.
On the streets of unfamiliar cities, total strangers have come to direct me to the right places without me even asking. On the same streets I have not only been met with the kindness of my fellow women and men, but I have been assured several times by elderly ladies that Jesus still loves me too. So wait… he actually DOES like the rest of us too! Hurraah!

Concerns over personal safety seem exaggerated as well. For example, when walking around in Boston, the pedestrians’ lights are equipped with descending numbers to show exactly how much time one has to cross the road. Several light posts have signs that inform the drivers that they “must yield to pedestrians”. In Finland, common courtesy is pretty much trusted with this task along with the white lines on the asphalt, but this leads to many, many accidents annually.
These little touches reach out beyond traffic. If liquid has invaded a spot on the floor in the local cafeteria, it is almost certain that on that spot there is a big cone letting us know that the glimmering patch is indeed moisture and we should beware. I have seldom felt safer.
If my experiences of America remain like this until the end of my stay, there will be many disappointed European humanists when I let them know how wrong they have been for so long. May their rocket’s red glare and their bombs burst in the air. I salute them and their nation.

Aleksi Ahonen
U.S. Correspondent
(Hampshire College, Massachusetts)

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