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Thursday, January 30, 2014

TRAIT 1: Bravery VS Endurance

 
I don’t claim to be patriotically British because I don’t see myself that way. However I do take a bit of pride telling people where I come from when I go on my travels. I think that to be an avid traveller you need to be a little bit proud of where you come from, otherwise you might lose yourself along the way. But I also think that it is important because even though you may not find it to be a very interesting country, the people that you meet will find it very interesting. You’ll find that you will learn things about your own culture that you never even knew existed. 
 
Go Get It!
When I came to America to live, it was not my first time in the country – I actually met my wonderful FiancĂ© here on one of my previous trips so America has always held a special place in our hearts. The one thing that I noticed right from the first visit was that American’s generally have a ‘go get it’ attitude. I found that if they want something that is different from a normal request, they don’t think twice about asking for it. Now if you, dear reader, are an American, you will either be thinking, “no, actually, I don’t have a ‘go get it’ attitude”, or you might be thinking that you have never really noticed it before. Believe me, there are very few American’s that I have met that don’t have it. Of course, they don’t see it as particularly noteworthy, which is understandable as it is set into their culture so it is second nature. However, I am from Britain and I find it very different and really quite interesting. I think that my reaction is understandable because in British culture, an opposite attitude is built in – whether we like to admit it or not.


We Put Up With Stuff

I am definitely not set in my British ways – in fact I flew half way across the world to get away from being typically British. Even so, I can’t escape what has been built into me from birth – what my home culture’s natural instinct and attitude is to life. To put it bluntly, we like to put up with stuff. Don’t get me wrong, the British should win prizes for moaning about how our country is – whether that be the weather, the political system, the weather, the economy, or even the weather! But the fact is, we are not well known for automatically asking for something that we want, without at least worrying about it a little first! I know that whenever I am in the position to stand up and ask for something that goes against the normality of life, my initial inbuilt reaction is not to do it. I am well-travelled and have studied cultures and history and literature and I have friends from all across the world – and if given a minute I will always burst through that initial barrier of the mind and will eventually ask for what I want. However, I can’t deny that my first instinct is always to just put up with the way it is, and I have to overcome it to be the gutsy person that I want to be.

 
Just a Walk In The Park
 
One example sticks in my mind quite vividly. When I had been living in Boston for about three months, I went for a lovely walk in Boston Common, which is the huge park in the middle of the city. I was hungry and it was lunchtime so I stopped off at a little sandwich shop to get some food. I waited in line and looked at the menu and made my choice – they had a Thai style chicken wrap, which sounded nice enough. There was an image of the wrap in the menu and it had salad inside it, which consisted of lettuce and cabbage. My crazy digestive system doesn’t allow me to eat lettuce for some unknown reason, so I tend to stay away from it – usually ordering something then taking the lettuce out myself before I eat. However, whilst I stood in that line I asked myself – why do I do that? Why don’t I just ask for it with extra cabbage to replace the lettuce, then I would have a complete wrap and I wouldn’t have to trouble myself with taking the lettuce out before I could eat my lunch? Why is it that I don’t automatically think about asking for a change from the norm? I watched the Americans in front of me in the line and each one of them asked for something specific that made it an unconventional order. One lady asked for a mixture of lemonade and iced tea, the man behind her asked for mustard instead of mayo on his beef sandwich and the lady in front of me even asked for a sandwich that wasn’t on the menu. That was it, I had made my mind up – I was going to bite the bullet and ask for what I really wanted. Why shouldn’t I? The shop was there to serve me and help me to be happy with my lunch. I am a paying customer after all! So I did it, I asked for exactly what I wanted and there was no problem at all. That was the first time I have ever ordered a sandwich with a salad and could eat it straight away.

What About The Big Mac?
 
On the same lines, if you go into a fast food restaurant in Britain, for example MacDonald’s, you will see a menu of every item that they can make there on the sign above you. In the US, (this only applies to the restaurants that I have been to in the US, so this may well be different at your local one – if so, I apologise) MacDonald’s puts the special menu items up on the sign, but there are some things that are left out. I went into one in Boston where they had the wraps and McFlurry’s up there, but nothing about a big mac! Could it be because in Britain we will never order something that is not on the menu, but in the US they have no problem with ordering exactly what they want and not settling for the easy option? Just something to think about.

Yes, I Am Fine Thank You
 
On a further note, whenever I walk into a store looking for something in particular and I don’t know where it is, I will walk around that store until my feet go blue, looking for it. My American friends pick me up on this regularly – my instinct is to not speak up for what I need and to not be a bother to anyone. I have been known to be in a store looking for something (and I have seen other Brits doing this too – so don’t deny it!) and when a shop assistant comes up to me and asks if I am OK and if I need any help, I will say, “yes, I am fine thank you,” and walk off – still trying to find my item by myself. I go shopping here in America every week and I have seen so many people that have a particular item in mind, or sometimes even those who don’t, who ask assistance to find their item or ask advice about what it is they plan to buy.


Confidence Isn't Key
 
Confidence definitely has a part to play in all of these things, but I think that the automatic reaction to a situation and our imbedded culture in this way is very different. I would like to show you my theory on why this could be by looking at the moment that the two countries split ways – the time in history where the first settlers came to the new world.



The Mayflower Voyage  

 
One of the main reasons that the first settlers came to the new world from England on the Mayflower voyage is because they
needed a new place in the world to create a life that they couldn’t live in England. One such group was a Puritan faction of 35 members, called the English Separatist Church. They were forced to flee from England because their radical religious beliefs were not accepted there. They attempted to set up in Holland for a while but were worried about losing their English culture and heritage because of the strong Dutch influences. When the option came up to sail to a new world where they would be able to create a new culture and not have to fit in with an existing one, they jumped at the chance.

There were many people that went on this voyage for many different reasons, but you can understand why they did it, with the renaissance being at the forefront of existence. Suddenly there were stories being spread about men who were so forward thinking – people who were trying new things and exploring new places. With discovery and new experience at the centre of modern thought, it was only a matter of time before groups formed that would, for the first time, believe in the possibility of choice and a new way of life created by themselves. They realised that they could create their own country and culture away from the influence of an existing one.

The voyage was set to land near the existing colony in Virginia. There was so much space and leniency promised to new settlers, so they must have been planning to build a new town that would be attached to the Virginia colony, but was in itself run by the inhibitors.

The people on board the voyage signed a Mayflower compact which created a civil body between them, to fairly govern the new land once they arrive. However, the ship came across terrible weather so they were blown off course, and ended up arriving in New England – in Cape Cod bay. After a few weeks of sending out an exploring party to the shore, they decided to stay and began to build on the land, which they called Plymouth. They were not even close to being prepared for the harsh winter in this new land. They had arrived at the beginning of the winter months and had not yet built sufficient shelters. Over half of the British settlers died in that first winter. Never the less, these settlers stuck it out and are known in History as being some of the first American people.

Pack Your Bags!
 
I know that in the modern day with air travel being so easy and affordable (for the most part!), the world is a small place. However, a journey like this one, picking up your life and moving to a new land, might still be a huge deal to us. Back then, not only were they on this voyage for 65 days, where the living conditions must have been life threateningly poor, but they were also sailing to a land of mystery – a place in which they knew nothing about and were not able to prepare for.
When we pack a suitcase, it doesn’t matter who we are in the modern world or where we come from, we always know what sort of things to pack. We have always been informed by our travel agents, by friends who have visited before, by pictures of the destination, by a well-informed Google search, by a big hard back book that features the destination amongst its other 99 places to see before you die, maybe we have even been there before ourselves so know exactly what to expect and what to pack to equip ourselves for the journey. These people would not have that luxury. They would pack as much as they were allowed, then would step onto a ship that would take them to a completely unknown land that they would know absolutely nothing about. What they would know was that there was little chance (if any) that they would ever be able to come back. Can you imagine a world where when you say goodbye to your home country to move to a place you have no knowledge of, you know that there will probably be no way of returning, even if you wanted to?

 
Pure Guts
 
All of these things, to me, make these people some of the bravest people that ever lived. Whether they did it out of necessity of situation or whether they did it out of choice and curiosity, what I want to highlight here is the bravery and pure guts of these people and all of the others that came to the new world at the beginning. Someone had to be the first, but to be the one to stand up and change your life forever, no matter what the circumstances, must have been terrifying. In their new home there is a different climate, different animals, different soil, different crops and different water – everything that they knew would have to be learned again.

Reasoning's
 
The fact is, most of the people that came over would have done so for a reason. For most, that reason would have been either political, economic or religious. They were not happy with the way that their home country was run, their lives in their home country, or the religion that dictated it. Because of this, the only people that travelled to what we now call America (at least, in the beginning) were not only brave, but they also went to drastic lengths to live the life that they want. These are the people that the modern day Americans are descended from.

Quite a Bit Of Trouble

Looking back at European history, setting the renaissance aside for a second, people in England would have been ruled in specific ways according to which ever King or Queen was on the throne at that time. The national religion would sometimes change, as would loyalties to monarchs and I can imagine that it would be hard to keep track of what you were and were not supposed to be doing by the law. If you did not do something in the correct way or if you did not follow the correct religion then you could get yourself into quite a bit of trouble. There was a lot of power in a single person which meant that things were being run in a very biased way, and not with any influence or input from the people. Some people would have been content to keep it that way – it is the way that it has always been and the general people have never had any input at all in the countries affairs.

It is easy to go along with the way it has always been and not kick up a fuss, or for that matter, even think about change or doing something in a different way. In England, most of the working class would have farms to run, animals to see to, small businesses selling produce or skilled labour needing to be taken care of.

There would not be a lot of time in daily life to think about such things as creating a new life  – even for new generations, as most businesses are handed down to the children who will have been trained from birth in how to take over. Not many people will have even heard of the possibility of creating a new town in a foreign land, and even if they did it would have probably been seen as no more than a fairy tale. They just complained in their own time about their issues but kept the ball rolling nonetheless. It is these people that the modern day British are decedent from.

 
Apologies!
 
Of course since that time, Britain and America have had many different cultural influences from other countries that make up the people that we see today. Because of that, there are many people that do not have these traditional qualities that I am talking about. To those people, I do apologise.

However, having been raised in one of the countries and now living in the other, I have taken notice of how much these traits from history are relevant and evident in modern day personalities and cultural mind frames.

Next Time...
 
Having the bravery to go for exactly what you want and not settling verses keeping quiet and dealing with what you have been given, is just one of these traits. In my next entry I will look at another trait – patriotism. Thanks for reading – see you next time!
 
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