Impressions of a Visitor to the United States

Twenty-six years have gone by between my first visit to the United States (California) and this visit; at that time, my brother-in-law had offered to send in a citizenship application for me. I turned him down, but this time I wish I had accepted after what I have seen of Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese forced migration due to our region and Arab countries going through frightening, worrisome situations in which a person cannot be assured of his children’s future.

I tried to explore this society and country that is a melting pot of people from all over the globe, of all types, colors, religions, doctrines and civilizations, creating from them a society regulated by laws, systems and U.S. customs, for the United States to become the strongest and greatest country in the world. For everyone works, produces, carries on his life within the bounds of the law, earns money and lives a good life. This is so even if the situation is not free of homeless people and drug and alcohol addicts who have made themselves a burden on society or whose shortsighted or deviant thinking has led them to fall into the abyss of perdition. Those who are serious, hard-working and productive enjoy a comfortable life and stability; and those who resort to deviating paths are punished harshly and have wronged themselves.

Between my first visit in 1986 and this visit, I haven’t found much change in the lifestyle, people’s behavior, or the traffic laws, except for a large increase in the number of cars, increased highways connecting cities and regions, and the frequent presence of traffic jams on the highways. I noticed that all citizens, car drivers and truck drivers follow the laws, protocols and regulations relating to traffic without the presence of many police patrols because the laws are severe and apply to everybody. So there are speed limits everyone is bound by, there are special lanes for cars carrying two or more people and no one dares to go into them when they shouldn’t. It is unthinkable for a car to change its lane randomly as happens on our roads because the fines are very high, some of them amounting to $2,000, and because a driver’s license can be revoked without consideration of the person’s name, clan or job. There is a complete ban on the use of cellphones while driving, the fine for which can be up to $400. Therefore, in one month, I saw only five people talking on their cellphones while driving. I also didn’t hear a car horn during my stay except for three times, despite millions of cars’ daily transit.

I’m not in the process of marketing the United States. U.S. politics in general are biased toward Israel, so its stance is always against Arab issues and the Palestinian issue, but what is nice in this country is that it is one of the countries in the world most concerned with the elderly and disabled and taking care of them. I met some elderly and sick relatives and they spoke to me with complete gratitude about the health and social care they receive. One of my relatives informed me that he had a heart operation that cost half a million dollars – and he didn’t pay a cent!

I felt how comfortable life in the United States is for the elderly, especially in the suburbs surrounding big cities, since all services are abundant; there are malls, restaurants and parks; the streets and sidewalks are arranged well for cars and pedestrians; everyone has their own special lane; drivers cannot move as long as there is someone crossing the street; and every car has to come to a full stop at intersections. As for the median strip, it can be up to ten meters wide, two meters of which are paved for walking- and running-enthusiasts and the rest of the space is green grass and trees that are watered by sprinklers in the ground that automatically pump water at intervals, day and night. The median strip is kept clean and green and there are signs requiring dog owners (of whom there are many) to remove their dogs’ waste from the ground. Therefore you find every dog owner carrying along a bag and glove to remove his or her dog’s waste, and you see gardens and walkways kept clean. If not for that, they would become health hazards, especially since the number of dogs is very large as barely any house is without them. There may even be more than one dog in a house, and you see men or women out walking three or four dogs. The expense of feeding these dogs and taking care of their health is estimated to be billions of dollars, for they have special clothing for the winter, beds, special hospitals and hotels, and in stores there are big sections for their food, their drink, and their toys. No wonder, since dogs in the United States have more rights than people in the Third World!

To be continued.