qtipoulaki = Spot on !! Learn about other countries, religions and cultures first hand!

Submitted by devo (Indonesia), Feb 7, 2008 at 22:33

qtipoulaki got it Spot on !! Unfortunately the statistics are low for US people even having a passport. A greater portion of the born in USA citizens that do travel to other countries go on limited time holidays or business travel and do not absorb much of the outside world. A big deal, for example, would be trying Ouzo, finding it lovely stuff, and bringing back 2 bottles of the real thing. Stuck in the mashed potato world - most do not learn or experience much - and essentially don't want to.

"If you call someone who knows two languages "bilingual" and someone who knows three languages "trilingual," what do you call someone who knows only one language? ---- An American." That old quip spells it out. I am old enough to remember that France loved Jackie Kennedy for her ability to speak Français. The majority of US government power people have little of these cultural abilities and moreso, again, essentially don't want to.

Those of the US government that do travel oversea's are protected in a tight little 5 star cocoon and shown only what the visited country wants to show, and that has all been cleaned up for the "show". It's no wonder wierd, askewed, and often baseless decisions are made from these "alice in wonderland" trips. Best would be to better populate the US government with people who do have bonafide international experience. A good starting point would be to tap into much more of the 190,000 that have served in the Peace Corps. Rather than spending multi-billions on war efforts, what would the world be like if these amounts were put into more organizations like Peace Corps? Come on US citizens, go to the Peace Corps website - volunteer - after all the passport is free and so is the language training.

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