Thoughts on Boston 4/15/2013

Hopefully, this is not a controversial post but here goes.


During travels, you are usually slow to get the news from back home, which is not unexpected.  After all, who wants to sit in front of a TV, newspaper, or computer looking at the news.  But every so once in a while, something shocking enough happens that you can't miss it, even overseas.


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When you are traveling as an American, you notice several things.

Sometimes you hear comments about how rude, loud, stupid, or bullying we are in the world of politics.  We heard one such comment at the Boom Chicago show from a local, while the troupe (originally from America) were setting up their last song.

I have heard the joke, and even made it a couple of times, that we would get treated better if we pretended to be Canadians.  I've also heard a couple of times that Canadians hate to be mistaken for Americans when traveling.

With this in mind, you go along your travels and try not to feed into the stereotype too much.  Admittedly, I cringe when I see or hear the stereotypical "embarrassing Americans."  I'm not unpatriotic, but it's not a great feeling.

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The thing that I want to shed some light on is about how much international support the U.S. really has.  Yes, there are those people who shout out how terrible we are in a crowd, but then there are a hundred other people to shush him and laugh and clap with us instead.

People generally speak English, which we take for granted, but they are happy to converse with us, even if we can only say thank you in their language.  They are truly nice to us and care about where we are from.  They tell us about the times they've been to America, or where they'd like to go if they've never been.  


Every time we went anywhere, someone was listening to the radio, or watching the TV, or having a conversation of how terrible the tragedy in Boston is.  And these were what we would call foreigners.  People who have never set foot on our soil, and do not know anyone that was directly affected.

Although we tend to not know much about matters outside of our country, which is partially due to the little international news we receive, the same cannot be said about the rest of the world.

What I'd like to say to those affected is that while you have support from your friends, families, the city around you, and the rest of the country, there is an international community out there that you may not know about, who truly care.  You are in all of our prayers.

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