"Because of our endless appeals system... ha ha." Maybe? Over these past years as I've traveled the world to ski and race I really have come to realize how wonderful it is to be an American and to live in the good ol' U-S-of-A.

When thinking about how to articulate this idea of America's fundamental greatness I figured I'd better put on some country music, a pair of jeans, maybe have a glass of milk, and eat some pie. You know American stuff. Baseball. Trucks. Burgers. Freedom. Ha ha. Enough with the clichés. My perception of America was limited to these obvious stereotypes until I spent some time abroad. Over the course of countless trips I started to notice seemingly small cultural differences. For example, Europe has a very different idea of what a "convenience" store is. Namely, "convenience" is applied to the store owner, not the customer. How many times have I gone to such an establishment on a Tuesday afternoon and found the place closed? At first I thought it was simply laziness on the part of such a business owner. But then I started to see that in these European places people weren't wedded to their jobs the way Americans are. A person's job is secondary to living a healthy, content life very much on their own terms. Which sounds good in theory, but here I was snackless on a Tuesday.

Looking around these European villages I would I see people quietly existing. Living each day much like the previous, much like the next. Haying the same fields their great great grandparents did. Their psyche seems to be one of smooth stasis, of equilibrium, of predictability, of tradition. Ok, that sounds like criticism, yet I'm not saying "our way" is better than "their way", I'm just saying there IS a difference. Besides, if one was assessing the total positive contribution made to mankind by these European cultures versus our own, we would very likely come up short (especially if you consider all the awful things we've contributed to the universe like "light rock"). However, assuming there is a large cultural difference, an interesting question is raised: How can these countries that in very large part populated our own country be so different?

America is a melting pot after all. This is my theory: Imagine a first generation homesteading American. How was this person different from their cousin, farming at home in Europe? Well think of how gutsy it was to leave the old world for the new!?! To say enough of this scraped together existence and board a boat for the new world... the land of opportunity. These traits tied together virtually every immigrant arriving in America: a hunger for more, a dissatisfaction with the current paradigm, an optimism, and a boldness. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." This inscription on the statue of liberty takes on a new meaning when one realizes that these "huddled masses" robbed the Old World of its very lifeblood and carried it here to the new world. And perhaps best of all, these are our very own ancestors as Americans.