three things about USA

Blog VII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Today, I would like to talk about what I feel are three good and three bad things about life in USA. These are based on two years of my experience in USA measured in comparison to two decades of prior experience in India. Since I have spent most of my time in USA in academic life, there might exist a skew (although the points presented are generic in nature) in addition to my own socio-cultural offset. I am keeping the good points for last (following US style).

three bad things about living in USA

• health system: many may deny that this problem exists at all (reminds me of a designer saying “it is not a bug, but a feature”) but American health system is in a mess, period. For a developed superpower like USA, it is unthinkable that managing health expenses is a scary nightmare for many of its citizens. It defies common sense to give away health system into the hands of private players who are more concerned about meeting their margins than taking care of people’s health. All non-emergency cases need to wait for an appointment which means that if have an acute pain in your stomach, you simply cannot rush to the doctor. What’s more, Americans have come to accept it as part of the system when in reality it is a flaw.
• individualistic society: this is perhaps where my opinion gets skewed by my upbringing. We Asians are brought up in relation-oriented societies where an individual’s worth is also measured in his/her relations within the society. In USA, such a society exists only in professional circles where networks are important. Outside it, in personal lives Americans are more like pigeons who fly out of their nests as soon as they can. Mind you, Americans are not in any way less caring about their family, it is just that their culture is such that senior people are often left to fend for themselves. The health system problem means that many of these seniors are found dispensing grocery bags in stores like Wal-Mart and HEB to meet their rising medical costs. Another aspect of such a society is visible in the scarcity of inter-city public transport systems.
• democracy: no I am not a communist, the problem with US democracy is that there is too much of it. It is visible when issues that are either trivial or should have been quickly dealt with are deliberated over for months or years. Health discussions, financial recovery, construction of a mosque are items figuring in this list. To be fair to USA, this is not a problem per se of this country but rather of mature democratic systems in general; that they are susceptible to excessive fragmentation of opinions. Freedom of speech is an inalienable right but when fools start speaking and get to share limelight, then it is an abuse of this right.

three good things about living in USA

• infrastructure: This is perhaps the most visible and most stark difference that many of us must have felt in US and also might have been a main reason for us coming here. Things happen in US much faster and opportunities are plenty. People can easily go about following their dreams than ‘what sells’.
• sense of freedom: being an individualistic society has its benefits too. People have a complete sense of freedom and can do anything without the need for justifying it to anybody. This imparts an independent streak to their personality. This also means that people can wear, speak, listen what they want to, without the shackles of stereotypes coming into play.
• standard of living: ask any Asian why they want to get settled in US and this should summarise their response in majority of the cases. Indeed the living standard that many of us enjoy here (assuming I should ignore my living standard as a student) is far better than what they could expect back in home. Although it is unfair but if I were to indulge myself in some foreign exchange wizardry then my first part time stipend at TAMU was MORE than my my first full time salary at ST. You pay taxes at home but do not see any change, here you pay a heftier tax but you can see where it goes.

These were my points, I would be glad to know what people think about them or if they would like to add any new points..your comments – to take a cue from Americans - “would be highly appreciated”.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this article is a personal opinion and individual experiences may vary.