Americans: Introduction

I have started writing this posting now five times causing me to realize how important this subject matter is. As it holds such great importance and I don't at this moment have the time to address this issue in its entirety I have decided to start a small series which I hope to conclude within the week. The series concerns things relating to Americans and French especially Parisians.

I listened last week to an excerpt from "Me Talk Pretty One Day" an essay by David Sedaris., In this essay he talked about being an American living in Paris and many of his observations ring true to me so now I will open up. As he says, "people are often frightened by Parisians but an American in Paris will find no harsher critic than another American." We American critics of Americans in Paris are not a small group. There are lots and lots and lots of us. We walk by you on the street, we watch you from across the metro station, we cast disparaging looks at the way you dress, the way you carry yourself and generally the way you are. We despise you because we know that we are you and we can't stand it.

Let me illustrate from my experience. I know a number of americans that I am cordial with. That is to say that I humor them in the same way that they humor me. That is not to say that I haven't had actual friends I appreciate that are American while I've been here. The reality is that those that fall into the cordiality category are much more numerous. What defines the cordiality category? Well I can't stand them because they are so very American: loud, obnoxious, narcissistic,and oblivious. The problem is that when around them I exhibit similar characteristics. Thus I attempt to avoid them. I am certain that some that fall into this category feel much the same about me and that is alright as long as we keep away from each other.