How world travel gave me perspective on what it means to be American.

Travel.

I’ve been fortunate to be able to spend the little extra money I make on travel. And while the US has some of the greatest places in the world to travel to, world travel ironically gives me great perspective on what it means to be American.

I’m always curious to know other countries views on America, especially during this presidential race (or shit show).

When I ask people from other countries what they think of this presidential race, usually the first response I get is something like: ‘well America is the most powerful country in the world’ (a lot of them even say ‘greatest country in the world’ ). And when they say that, they don’t say it as an opinion, they are stating it as a fact, no less true than saying the sky is blue.

They’ll usually then talk about how much the decisions of the US impact their country and them personally. So much so that they keep up with our government, they know many of the presidential candidates, and even the poll numbers!

Do you know how many political parties Brazil has? or Spain? Me either.

How crazy is it to think that many people outside the US know how many we have? That they know our political processes and presidential candidates? That they know our branches of government, our history and culture? It’s crazy! But it makes me feel proud to be an American every time.

And our impact goes beyond policy. American music plays in almost every foreign taxi, bar, store, or restaurant I’ve been in, from Maroon 5 to Frank Sinatra to Jay-Z. I’ve rapped Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ album with a cab driver in Mexico, unintentionally ended up at Nirvana tribute band at a small bar in the Spanish island of Mallorca, and drank bottle after bottle of Spanish wine while listening to an acoustic guitarist and singer mix in Lauren Hill and Amy Winehouse songs to their set in the heart of Barcelona. The masses just don’t happily belt out other country’s songs if they do not respect or like that country.

America is great.

One difference between many other countries and us is that we have been fortunate enough not to have a fascist-like leader in our history, many other countries have, and know what one looks like. They know how they fear mongol and lie to confuse and scare the public.

People in other countries are scared for this election, ‘how could the greatest country on earth give their power to someone like Donald Trump?’ they ask. They would probably give anything to have a vote, because your vote, what we end up deciding, means so much to them.

And you might say ‘well who cares about other counties? America First!’ Well, sure, but if you’ve ever said ‘ALL lives matter’, then technically YOU care about people in other countries (unless of course you were only saying ‘all lives matter’ as a way of repressing black people who are raising awareness of how repressed they are.)

So please, go vote, because it is one of the greatest things you could do, and because more people than your angry uneducated uncle depend on the US. The whole world looks to us, and that is something to be so very proud of.

And for those who want to ‘make America great again’, I must ask, when was the last time America was great?

I don’t think it ever stopped being great, and everywhere I’ve traveled to outside the US has never stopped believing it is great. And you should never stop believing America is great, even if the orange manatee who is on TV 24/7 suggests otherwise.