Day 10: Β What taste are you grateful for today?
This is a strange question, no? Taste…? Have you ever considered a taste to be grateful for before? Hm… π Well, technically choosing taste would be salty, sweet, bitter and the like, right? If this is the case, then I am grateful for the taste of sourness – or whatever taste is most related to kimchi! π I do love my kimchi. I almost always have some in the fridge and if I do not eat it regularly I definitely get cravings for it. While others might crave sweets, I crave the joyful taste of kimchi! Yep, I know it is an acquired taste, but once you acquire it – oh how delightfully delicious it is!
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Yesterday, America celebrated its 240th anniversary of independence from Britain. It seems also rather ironic that in this same year, Britain will have claimed independence from the European Union. Unlike the independence of the United States promising freedom and prosperity, the BrExit bodes poorly for the English nation.
However, setting aside the negative nasties of politics and any obvious possibility of discussion on the decline of the U.S., let us focus on the gratitudes we can have towards my adopted country!
When I talk about freedom as one of my values, there is no other country that allows me such. When I think about integrity and honesty, I think of the pride of American people to hold dear the land of the free and the brave. While we can say this is brainwashing or nationalistic, I say what is wrong with that really? Shouldn’t we be proud of our home countries?
As an expat, who has lived very little of my adult life in my home country, I still feel privileged to be able to say I am American. In fact, I think I appreciate the USA a lot more because I have lived away from it for so long. My national pride is probably stronger because I see it from the outside and through my travels realize how lucky we have been in the States. Opportunities are limitless, freedom is a right not a privilege and so much more.
Of course, every nation has dark sides to consider and areas left to grow in, but overall, I am proud to say Happy 240th Birthday to my country of citizenship! What a different world it would be if the USA did not exist.
~T π
