American emotions

There used to be a time when entering into one American shop was annoying me. Because at the entrance of a shop there should be someone who’s smiling and asking how are you. Of course he/she doesn’t care about this, but is part of the job description. (I’m curious what those persons are filling in their CV about this experience: being a double bagger for _ ?) When you leave is the same ‘Bye, have a nice evening!’ Now I’m not annoyed anymore and I say back ‘Thanks. You too have a nice evening’. Because… how much a smile worth? A lot… I prefer this attitude to the ‘you cannot afford this, why are you bothering me?’ which I usually meet in some Romanian stores.

Americans say ‘I love you’. While waiting for some planes in airport, I had the chance to hear some phone conversations (I realized is personal, but when the person is near you, you can’t stop from hearing). The usual ending is ‘I love you. Take care! Bye!’ How many times did you say to your parents this? Me… few fingers are enough for counting. Why is that? I would like to say to them that I love them and I would love to hear it back. Not just for the family, but for my friends also. I guess we need to be strong and not emotional… But I don’t understand why… I’m sure you all can remember at least one scene from American movies when if one of the parents died, the sun/daughter is worried when he/she said last time ‘I love you’ to his/her parent. How many times did you see that in a Romanian scenario?

I was almost witness to a moment when a guy proposed to her girlfriend, in Rockefeller Center, Ne w York, a very crowded place. The people around join the moment and enjoyed with them. He wanted to say to the whole world that he loves her. And he didn’t need any actor to stage this moment for him (I won’t give names, but … I’m sure you all know that I’m thinking of someone’s caravan). And the people join the moment because they shared their happiness and not because they want to be on TV.

Again in airport, something filled my soul with emotions. I and Lucian (with whom I was to New York to his cousin) didn’t fly with the same airline. We bought the tickets at very close time, but because of some delay I needed to wait for him in NY’s airport for a while. There were some other people waiting. Parents were waiting their children, some young people were waiting theirs friends, husbands were waiting their half and one child with his father was waiting for the mother. The little child was keeping some flowers as big as him for his mother. He handed them to her and hardly made few steps. There are no words for the moment…

I don’t know if this was an ordinary hour in La Guardia airport, or it was all just because it was Thanksgiving. But that child waiting for his mother, seeing so many people hugging , hearing so many ‘I love you’…... is a full emotional picture that reminds me of NY/America.

I’m not attributing this moment to any nation. I’m taking people for what they are, and not for which nation are coming from. Still, I think that every country has some rules that you start feeling while living there…