America Misunderstood by Ralph Rewes - HTML preview

PRECIOUS COMMODITIES ABROAD 

In the States, there are dozens of things that are insignificant to us, but important for many people abroad. We take them for granted, not knowing their international values. That is why traveling to other countries is not only important, but also essential, to help us do a thorough reevaluation of everything we have at home.

You may think this is funny, but it is not. It takes just one trip to an inhospitable area of the planet to realize it. One item most Americans usually miss in their wandering around the world is toilet paper, our kind of toilet paper, that is. The countries that have it, in most of the cases, have it so rough that — in the words of some — it gives hemorrhoids.

How important is toilet paper? This is what a guest at a local radio talkshow on one of the many Spanish radio stations here in Miami had to say on toilet paper. I assure you that this was the most unusually philosophical opinion on toilet paper I ever heard.

Toilet paper, he said, “is an item directly related to social and economic progress. When a country slides into economic disaster, the first thing to disappear from the shelves of stores and supermarkets is toilet paper.”

He said that the lack of toilet paper has become a symbol of economic depression. “An economically depressed nation,” he continued, “is forced to used newspapers and paper bags to substitute for the missing toilet paper.”

It came to my mind how uncivilized people use leaves, grass, corn cobs and even stones. I also remember that a few years ago, we had a temporary critical shortage of toilet paper, and, coincidentally, we were going through a recession.

American tourists nowadays don’t have to face those predicaments. Some hotels seem to have gotten the message often repeated by those who used to pack their suitcases with toilet paper rolls.

Furthermore, toilet paper has become softer in many countries, or optional. For instance, In a recent visit to Santiago, Chile, I was surprised to learn that the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, a business-oriented hotel, provides two types of toilet papers in its bathrooms: one rough (European style), one soft (North American style). To each his own.

This duality may reflect a trend going on everywhere in the international business world. The American businessman makes up only 40% of their total business clientele, the other 60% is made up by Europeans and by — guess who! — those ubiquitous and ever smiling Japanese.

Besides toilet paper, many other things may be useful to an American visitor who wants to communicate with the natives. By the way, don’t use this word in Spanish or Portuguese — nativo in both — it is a derogatory term in those two languages.

A Polaroid camera will make instant friends. Nothing makes somebody smile faster than to see his own picture in seconds and get it as a present from you. Even those reluctant to have their pictures taken, appreciate it.

Whether you agree or not with some traditions, you must respect them. A misunderstanding, in some cases, can lead you right into serious trouble. In some countries, picture-taking may be hazardous to your freedom and pocket. In Socialist Cuba in particular, they are oversensitive to what they may consider top secrets — no matter how childish they may seem to you. They take military installations and railroad stations (?) very seriously.

Picture-taking can be also irritating when you want to take an innocent shot at the indigenous population in some African and Latin American countries. For instance, some indigenous people believe that if you take them a picture, you also take part of the subject’s soul. Sometimes, however, they would waive their rights to their soul for some hard currency.

In some places, you may be arrested for taking a picture of a person without previously asking his authorization. If you want to take home candid pictures of people, the best bet is to attach a telephoto lens to your camera. That way you’ll have no problems and no misunderstandings.

If you still smoke, besides being a courageous person nowadays, you can use cigarettes as one really important icebreaker. Europeans, especially Germans and Spaniards smoke like herring.

Just keep in mind that it is customary always to offer a cigarette to whomever you are talking to or even close to you before you light your own cigarette. This courtesy is appreciated by friends and acquaintances and opens up a conversation with strangers, a fascinating thing to do when you are in another country. And it is considered good manners.

Many times, Americans have been labeled as rude, even stingy, for not offering a cigarette to the person they are talking to before they start to puff. Actually, we don’t usually do that in the U.S.A., where we take for granted that he who smokes, is loyal to a particular brand and always has his own pack with him, not out of rudeness, as people abroad think.

In Latin America, they also consider it very rude not only to pull a cigarette out of a pack without first offering one to the person you are talking with, but also refusing to accept a cigarette that is being offered to you. In the latter case it may become a trying experience to accept a black tobacco cigarette, the one they call “rompepechos” (lung busters).

Every country in the world has its own list of hot American items; that is, those items difficult for them to get. You must be aware that most of the time, there are legal restrictions, so you don’t break the law. In Israel, for instance, where small Japanese recorders are a luxury, there are tough customs regulations on incoming ones in tourist bags.

In former socialist countries, blue jeans and T-shirts with phrases, rock group pictures, etc., printed on them could be both a token of friendship and a valuable trade item. Nevertheless, unless you are a born businessman, just the contact with the people is pay enough. Other small items, like candies, chewing gum, pens, key-holders will make instant friends, especially in those places where they are considered a rarity.

It is very important to understand that those who can give you the best information on the country you are visiting are old folks. They are always attentive, proud and always try harder to help you. Human beings are the best commodities. We are. They are.

We may conclude that “America” or the United States of America — not this country, but our country — is, more often than not, misunderstood. Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s somebody else’s fault — now and in the future. Communications will bring to us a wider exchange of ideas. Judgments will take place and we will be even more misunderstood than we ever have been. We understand and accept our criticism with grace, but we must also realize that other nations don’t accept criticism the same way.

Despite all misunderstandings, people from all over the world flock toward our borders and jump through them to desperately cling to our misunderstood way of life. It must be that all our defects subtracted from our virtues, we still come to total of virtues. Few other countries can proclaim that. Plus we have a more down-to-earth reason: our economic system works.

In all these previous accounts of communications, the fabled American tourist played an outstanding role. Probably no place on earth exists today that hasn’t been visited already by a man or a woman wearing dark glasses and funny clothes. In every U.S. city there is a little piece of a far away country; in every country on earth there is now a little bit of the United States of America.

We are sometimes misunderstood; we sometimes misunderstand. But, what the hell! Understanding and misunderstanding are part of our human nature.