Dear Americans,
At this point I’m comfortable calling you this as at the very least you have a real appreciation for what the word actually means. For years I’ve red articles on this site and silently hoped for your success. For much of my life I had a deep-rooted love and respect for the United States and what it represented. I grew up in Europe and while life was mostly comfortable, it felt to me that it was the US and your can-do attitude that was actually driving this entire thing we call humanity forward, be it from landing on the moon, establishing equal rights to having the world’s leading universities and companies. For much of my life I even felt a tinge of regret that I had not been born there.
As an adult, my views did become more nuanced, but the core belief that the United States has been a force for more good than bad in the world remained paramount. That changed in the last 4 years, and I only see it getting worse if you continue down the current path. And for what may the first time ever, my feelings of admiration and mild envy have turned to pity.
I’ve been lucky. I work for an American company as an ex-pat in China, so I have been spared a hell of a lot of the anxiety and heartache that many of you are going through. But seeing what is happening to the country I love and what many of the co-workers I am so fond of are going through has still deeply affected me.
I can’t imagine what it must be like, feeling that the ideals you hold most dear are slipping away, loosing your job or constantly living in fear that you might. Feeling that you can’t afford to seek help if you get sick or that you might not survive an encounter with the police just because of the colour of your skin. Maybe more than anything, a sense of dread about an uncertain and possibly scary future.
Instead, I hope to remind you of what it is that truly makes your country great in the eyes of the world and that many of our thoughts are with you in this hardest of times. There is a relentless and infectious optimism I have seen in most Americans that has allowed you to succeed where others have failed. The unswerving belief that you can change your own destiny for the better. It may seem strange, but I have seen much of the world and it is a characteristic that is uniquely fairly universal to most of the Americans I have known. Admittedly, by the nature of the fact they are Americans abroad, they tend to be like you, liberal, open, rational and just a bit brash. What I would term the good Americans. Still, there are more of you than the other type, regardless of the results of an archaic political system.
It is much to ask of you right now, to rise once again to face a major challenge in your history. Your tax dollars, hard work and fair-mindedness kept us safe for a very long time. And the world will become a far less fair and more dangerous place without a strong, unified and confident United States. I truly wish there was something I could do to help you. I can’t vote and I am a world away. So the best I can think of is to offer some comfort and remind you that we believe in you and hope you are able to fight your way out of this darkness that has consumed you. Don’t loose heart, many of us are with you and fervently hope you succeed.