The image of America around the world has been somewhat tarnished for a long time, and that's due mostly to our meddling in foreign affairs and the way we do business abroad. Some of the complaints against us are legitimate, at least in my view. I don't like the way some businesses conduct themselves here at home, and I can only imagine what they must be like in other countries. I don't like some of our ill-conceived military actions in other countries, but I don't see them as altogether unwarranted. And I don't travel abroad, so I don't see what our tourists act like in other countries. But most American tourists don't leave this country at all, stay right here to spend their vacation money, and I get a chance to see that on occasions. I couldn't work in the tourist industry, but I'm glad some people can. It's big business, and Americans are a large part of it because they have money to spend . . . and everybody likes money.
I read the book The Ugly American years ago and remember thinking then that it was too critical of us. Yeah, we can be a pain in the ass at times, but American dollars do a lot of good in the world. And I think we look better up close, and for a number of reasons that don't have anything to do with the big bucks we've got to spend. All Americans aren't the same, that's for sure. Travel around in this country and you'll find folks who don't behave at all like they do in other places. I live in Texas, and we take pride in being the friendliest state in the union. Texans are for the most part friendly and easy to get along with, but all Texans aren't the same. Rural Texans aren't the same as cityslicker Texans, and each city seems to have its own character. I like the way Austin behaves, for instance, and I'm not fond of Dallas. Houston makes me irritable, and San Antonio is too busy. And you wonder: Do those people act the same when they leave town and go somewhere else?
I live in small town Texas, and quite a few local residents travel abroad from time to time. I'd be willing to bet that any stranger who meets them will not think of them as an ugly American. Texans think big, and they sometimes act big, but that's not always offensive. I'll give you an example, just one. My buddy up in Ft. Worth and his wife travel all over the world, take several big vacations a year. They've been everywhere, have spent millions of dollars on travel abroad. And you can't find anyone easier to get along with than these two people. I can just hear some Frenchman saying, "You know, I met these people from Texas the other day, and they weren't at all like I expected them to be. They were very nice, and they told us all about Texas." That's the kind of representation we need abroad.
As for me, I look good at home . . . writing books and being glad to be in a small town.
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