the not so great america

first you get cought up with the perfection of everything everything is big and huge and sparkly in the great america they make everything there and they have the best education and healthcare too they are the best in everything and at everything if you want to see the most beautiful trees, if you wanna buy the fanciest cars, if you wanna go see the biggest rollercoaster you will find all that and more. and strangers smiling opening doors for you helping you out saying hi and goodmorning to people who dont need your money is awesome. you will find the biggest popcorn box the juiciest burgers the largest cokes and the best cleanest parks for kids to play. however after the first month passes and second one too, after you get suck in a routine and the days start to be exactly the same you start feeling hollow. the day is so long there. hours pass so slowly. after breathing all the fresh air and experiencing life with so many rights and a well established democratic system i found myself missing the crooked sidewalks of my hometown cairo, i started missing the pollution, the noise of the streets, the authentic egyptian food and the reality of things as bad as they are. despite the perfection of america it is a very isolated life and and an individualistic culture where one is for one and not all for any but themselves. many grandparents end up in senior homes, most families are stretched in different states and they see each other in the holidays and some even dread it. so much loneliness and hollowness along with so much responsibility that is dropped on an individual with so little help. i respect how independent the american culture is however i found my culture in egypt so much more comfortable and a promoter for happiness, you get so much help from a web of family ties that stick together to help pick up any falling member of the chain. its all for one and one for all here. one might get tired and bored of all the closeness and that everyone is in your buisness and the crowdedness of everything, but when you leave for a while you will find yourself running back missing every bit of it.atleast i did. i found my self asking these questions: why is suicide so popular in the places so perfect like americas' best university towns? how come the people of egypt have low suicide rates when so many are so poor and sick? the answer came to me perfection is not the reason for happiness having it all does not mean u r happy. i think the people and family and support along with a community that works to back eachother is what keeps people happy and a great deal of faith n luv. here grandparents are loved n respected and they live with their children when they are old. people die for each other here, they would go to the end of the world to help you here. and if ur car breaks down on the highway a thousand good men will stop to help. yes the education is not good, healthcare is horrible, sexual harrasment is a disaster, the traffic is a nightmare, and the recent revolution has created instability, yes its full of faults here but we love it and we have come to get addicted to it like a bad drug. i came back loving the crooked streets of my old city and the old buildings with all the dust on them because it seems and feels way deeper n more real here i feel whole and connected to reality. being in Cairo now it seems like America is another planet very far and very different. maybe cuz i grew up here and in my blood my country runs, i feel like a fish out of water when i am not on the beaches of egypt in the summer, when i dont hear the call of prayer in ramadan, when i dont visit the hussein mosque and drink karkade on a hot night of the summer, when im not surrounded by the buzz of my friends and family laughing and talking. my people stay up all night in the summer laughing and telling stories together n thats what i missed most.