Cultural Dilemma LO5238

Barry Mallis (bmallis@smtp.markem.com)
30 Jan 1996 11:13:24 -0500

Replying to LO5217 --

Subject: Time:11:07 AM
OFFICE MEMO Cultural Dilemma observation Date:1/30/96

I passed on to someone in my company the recent posting which contained the
bulletin board piece about the cultural dilemma. Below is a response I
thought worthy of sharing.

Regards,

Barry
----------
Very interesting, Barry. I don't know if the olympics he's talking about
are the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, but if he is it sure
explains why I do agree 100% with what he is saying.
I have had the opportunity to come to the US (1987) to get education,
work, and to start a family. I had to face the at times very unsettling
aspects of going thru emmigrations and becoming a member of a new society
which looks the same as in Norway, but is so different. I am a very
outspoken guy who's not afraid of seing things as they are, and who
sometimes drags the facts into the spotlight so that others can see from a
different perspective. I sometimes piss people off, but the truth may
sometimes hurt. Most Americans don't have other reference points, and it
just makes me laugh (cry) out loud when I hear the presidential candidates
talk to the public, attempting to gain votes, about the "...extreme
taxburden..." that many Americans face. The US has the lowest taxburden of
any Western industrialized country, the highest per capita expenditure on
health services, but also the poorest public health coverage. Anyway, I
could spew on and on, but in short I really believe that this is a society
of many "takers" and "think of myselfers". I hate to talk to Americans
about the homeland's socialistic solutions to most major public problems,
because the American mindset does not in general differentiate between
communism and socialism.
The point I think Mr. Oldham hits the spot on is

"Take Responsibility became Demand Rights".

Nowhere else can you find legal pervertions to the extent that you do
here. We have become a society of whiners who avoid taking charge and
taking responsibility. And if, god forbid, anything whatsoever goes wrong
for reasons that do not seem to accept that "common sense" even exists, it
is a grand chance for you to hook up with one of the advertised "make them
pay" law firms and strike it rich.
This is the land of opportunity, no doubt, and I am very thankful for
what I have learned and found here. But to stay above water you must make
decent money, stay healthy, stay young, have as few kids as you can, and
hope that your parents and grandparents have lots of money to take care of
themselves. Because if you are unlucky and life gives you a tough one,
there's often no safety net below to keep you from falling.

received from A.

--
Barry Mallis
bmallis@markem.com