I was sitting on the bus last week taking my three-year old son to nursery school. It was a particularly good morning with no tears, tantrums or screaming about brushing his teeth. He was quite happily playing on the bus, pretending to make me cups of tea, coffee, ice cream, cakes and sausages. I sort of smiled and thought to myself that it would be nice if there was a button on the bus that would dispense these items. Well, maybe not sausages.
Then, as the bus roared down the road, he asked me a question.
Follow me to see what he said.
He was looking out of the window and he kept saying America. My husband and I have been explaining to him that Mummy is from America, and that is where his gran, grandad, Aunties Lisa and Mina and his other cousins live. We live in Glasgow, although he thinks Balamory (google for more info on that one!)
So he looked me straight in the eye and said in his bright three-year old voice, "Mummy, what DO Americans do?"
I laughed out loud. I didn't really know what to say, mainly because I didn't know he knew what an American was. People on the bus looked at me strangely, but that is nothing new; most time they don't expect to hear a black American on their morning commute.
I told him that Americans do lots of things, and that was a good enough answer for him as he went back to making me pretend food once more.
It was a pretty good anecdote, on the "my-kid-said-something-cute-and-precocious- scale." But for some reason, it sort of played on my mind, especially when I told friends and colleagues what he said, and they said "well yeah, what do Americans do?" They didn't say in the way of curiosity, but more of derision. Perhaps I felt it acutely because I live in a foreign country.
Of course I know what Americans do--we do things everyone one else does. I suppose if people are asking what American have done, I always tell them that in a short historical time, we have achieved many great things. Sadly, that is all being undone with the current state of the government. Scots love to tell me that they are responsible for inventing the television. I love to tell them that we are responsible for making it good.
Seriously, with all the corruption, scandal(may I quote Basil Fawlty and not even mention the war) and flat out delorable state of America just now, what do I tell my son about the country of which he is also a citizen, when he is old enough to digest complex history and information?
When he is say, 13 and learning about former President George Bush and his cronies and the way they tarnished the image of (in my opinion) a once great nation, what do I tell him? I realize that America had serious problems before Bush was spawned, but his actions will be forever remembered.
America is my home, and no matter where I live, I will love it forever. I defend the place when it needs defending, but I also criticize it harshly when it needs it . I am proud of who I am, where I am from, and a lot of the achievements of her people. So, I ask you Kossacks, because you all are smart folk, what do Americans do? I need something to tell my son tonight.