Spoiled America

What do most people think of when they think of America? Land of the free? Land of opportunities? Well one aspect of America that I think is not an ideal image is that most Americans are spoiled. We’ve all been witness to it either out shopping or in a restaurant there’s that person who becomes enraged over something minimal demanding for their money back because there was a pickle on their cheeseburger. A scene such as this reminds me of my three-year-old daughter throwing a tantrum because something wasn’t just the way she wanted. One time I encountered a lady who would not stay at a hotel because they didn’t have the specific kind of sheets she wanted. It makes me wonder why people are this way, instead of being grateful for having something to eat or a warm bed to sleep in they seem dissatisfied with every tiny detail.
Most parents have the common sense to stop their children from having too much of a good thing like candy, toys, or unhealthy activities yet Americans have the highest obesity rate and are constantly over-indulging in drugs, alcohol, pornography, shopping, etc. They’re are millions of Americans struggling with some sort of addiction. The old statement of “Living the American Dream” has become somewhat of a joke, as people look to material possessions to fulfill their lives and measure with one another how successful they are. People like this will continue to get deeper and deeper in debt constantly buying things they don’t necessarily need or want.
It seems that we’ve become so much more detached from one another and more attached to material things. I’ve seen people buy expensive things and never even use them, It makes me wonder if they are trying to fill some void in their lives, could this be why most Americans are deep in debt? We wonder why are children grow up to be so spoiled when they are watching us spoil ourselves, maybe a more fitting quote that would represent Americans should be “Love Things, Use People” when instead it should be the other way around.
We’ve all heard the saying that “the customer is always right” well that just opens the door for people to manipulate businesses by making unreasonable demands and complaints so that retailers will give them whatever they want. What if I gave my three-year-old whatever she wanted? What kind of person would she turn out to be? Don’t get me wrong, these statements aren’t intended to represent Americans as a whole but they do make up what I think is an undeniable majority of them. All I’m saying is that maybe Americans should take a look around “beyond” what they believe to be their difficult lives and maybe then they would see that even the most poverty-stricken American is a lot richer compared to the majority of the world.
My husband and I made $12,000 last year which is considered below the poverty level yet we still own our own home, have food in our fridge, a roof over our head, and clothes on our back, now you tell me who can say that in a country such as Thailand for example? What if people tried to reach out to each other maybe inviting their neighbor over for dinner instead of competing over who has the better lawn, or instead of turning to food and addictions for comfort why can’t we comfort each other. So often we turn to the television to connect with some sort of life situation, well what if we connected through human relations and not electronic ones, wouldn’t that be more fulfilling than a made up scenario?
When will America begin to change the way they live? When will they be content with what they have instead of endlessly over-indulging in what they want? When will we find that our natural need for social interaction lies through connecting with each other and not through other means? Until Americans begin to change I believe we will be and the rest of the world will continue to view us as spoiled Americans.