M.I.T.
A few days ago I ordered a new CompactFlash card for my digital camera. It arrived in the mail today, and as I was struggling to open the impenetrable fortress of blister packaging that surrounded it, I noticed these words printed on the back in little letters: MADE IN TAIWAN. Yay! Finally something not made in that country whose name begins with a C and ends with an A. You know the one I'm talking about. No, not Croatia. Czechoslovakia's not even a country any more, silly, so stop playing. No, not Colombia either.
Sometimes you appreciate the little things. Like when the temperature outside drops to 18 degrees F (wind chill 4) and you think about the tropical place your parents came from. That place might not be your home, but it's your birthright.
One unfortunate thing about living in America is that everyone seems to have forgotten he or she comes from somewhere else. I've tried to be a student of this phenomenon: How many generations does it take to lose all connection to that other place?
I can't recall the number of times people have described themselves of "Irish-German" ancestry or "something-dash-something else" ancestry but come up blank when pressed on specifics. Wouldn't it be nice to have another place on this planet where you could go if you ever needed to pull the ripcord on your American life?
posted by stewchang @ 6:55 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You are having too much acronym joy here and it's making me ill :)
if it were possible, i totally would have pulled the ripcord by now.
totally.
The good thing about being in America is that the rip cord is always at your fingertips. You don't have to deal with nearly as much BS as in other countries to get OUT of here. I agree with you, it doesn't take much to lose touch with where you (or your family) are from. I'm curious however how many generations does it take to want to leave US and try to go somewhere else.
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