Eyes Wide Open

I believe this experience here in Germany has been a real-eye opener for many of us, particularly in the case of perceptions of Americans. 

Today we got the opportunity to sit in a classroom here at the university in Bonn and a class presented to us on some of the different perceptions of American life. But, they are just that: perceptions. They see that our way of life is different and in order to cope with that, we must put these new findings into groups.

The perception that I have found most interesting was that of patriotism. In the United States being patriotic is huge. A soldier serving our country is a big deal and we are proud of those that do it. I hadn't thought about it like this before, but it is not the same in Germany. Germany is a country whose military and government officials would turn against the people instead of acting for the people. Instead of going to war against another country, they could have gone to war against their own people at any time. Being in the military is not the same act of honor in Germany as it is in the states. So what does all this mean? Patriotism is not a big thing in this country because they don't believe they have all that much to be patriotic about. 

When the students were presenting their findings we could tell they were getting nervous that we were getting offended. However, that was not the case at all. We are not offended, just realizing that it is very different in the states compared to other countries.


Photo courtesy of http://republicanredefined.com