Two countries

I am an immigrant. In the classic sense - I came to the United States 10 years ago with nothing but two suitcases and an admission to one of the great Dance Schools in New York City. I wanted to dance, but even more so, I wanted to find a way to stay legally in the US. For some reason, I have always been strongly drawn to this country. Maybe it was the two summers I spent here when I was a child, maybe it was something deeper and older, a destiny shaped long ago in past lifetimes.

I did stay - legally - and I did dance. 10 years later, I am still here and have no plans of ever going back to my native country, Germany.

When I first came here, I admired the qualities that I saw in Americans - an ingenuity, creativity and can-do spirit that I found lacking in my home country. I was in love with the US, albeit certainly naively so. Not only have the past 10 years revealed some of the darker sides of this country, it also seems to me that the very nature of the US has changed dramatically over this time (and not for the better).

While my occupation is professional Dance, I cannot help but observe and note many strange and worrysome tendencies that seem to develop in the US. Looking back at my experiences growing up in Germany, I realize that many of the things I enjoyed and took for granted are not at all available to many people here.

In Germany my family never had to worry that if one of us would get sick we wouldnt' be able to pay the doctor bills. It was unheard of that anyone would be without healthinsurance.
It was equally unheard of that anyone wouldn't be able to afford the education they desired.
And as for the quality of healthcare and education, I can't help but have the sneaking impression that both were of a much higher standard than here in the US. Or, put in different words, there is a fantastic standard of healthcare and education available here, but only for those affluent enough to be able to pay for it. And that would probably be only the top 5% of the US population.

This glaring inequality is somewhat shocking for a German. Then again, when I left Germany I was thoroughly annoyed with what I call "entitlement thinking" among many Germans. This is certainly the downside of any socialist system and the classic argument against socialism: it supposedly weakens the human spirit in getting people used to a government taking care of them. But it is not quite as simple as that either - because Germany has a highly educated and highly skilled people as a result of higher education being available to everyone. And as a result of that, Germany has not only a better footing in international competition, but also has a reflective populace who would never have accepted anything as crazy as, for example, the Iraq war!

The US has many puzzling contradictions and tensions among it's people. It has it's share of brilliant liberal intellectuals but it also has, on the other end of the scale, fundamentalist Christians who believe that everything in the Bible is to be taken literally (I was shocked when I first heard this) and who want "Creationism" to be taught in schools (and thus make themselves the laughing stock of other countries). It has incredible wealth and incredible poverty, both materially and spiritually. It has amazing beauty in it's national parks and wildlife refuges and the same time it has politicians who fervently argue for drilling for oil in some of the most pristine of places. It has developments in alternative and energy medicine that are as of yet unheard of in other countries but it also has the FDA that is trying to destroy everything that is a threat to the income of the pharmaceutical industry.

Someone who has lived in two or more different countries has probably always a unique viewpoint on the intricacies of daily living and may be able to see aspects that would otherwise remain hidden. I am going to try to share my observations on the social and spiritual aspects of life in the United States based on my background of having grown up in Germany, and thus try to understand the apparent contradictions that are found in this country.