Great story, it reminds me how we all take for granted all the advantages we have, and why 245 years after the revolution, people all over the world still try to and die trying sometimes to come here! Thanks for the reminder! God Bless America, and Ronald Reagan RIP, the greatest US President in my lifetime!
This post was moving and timely...just what I needed to hear right now and help me reorient going into Thanksgiving. Hope you're encouraged by hearing that your words were meaningful. Thanks for what you do every week with the newsletter.
Thanks for sharing your story. I always enjoy reading your posts. I have never replied. This one is different, and I feel compelled to reply.
As someone who emigrated to the USA in my early twenties, I can share with you that this is the greatest country ever known. Yes, it is a rich country, yes the standard of living is high, yes it is beautiful and large, yes it is diverse, and I could add many more adjectives to this list. But, none of these things are what makes it the greatest as these things could be found somewhere else.
America is an idea, and that is what makes it great. For those emigrants like me, America holds values and ideals that are universal and resonate within the souls of people of good conscience everywhere. And although we love our native countries, some of these universal ideals are foreign in our lands. This is what brings us here.
Lately, I find myself wondering, if America stops being who she is, where will I go? Where could people that share the idea of America go?
So, I am thankful to be here. I appreciate the difference. I just hope others did too.
Boy did I ever enjoy this Thanksgiving newsletter! They've all been good but this one brought back memories and emotions and a gratefulness like none of the others.
I too rode that train. In my case, years before you did, in 1981, the year after we boycotted the Moscow Olympics and when Leonid Brezhnev was commanding troops in Afghanistan and the Cold War was not terribly cold.
Of all the castles and museums and monuments and theaters and silk road cities and Black Sea resorts that we visited, it was circumstances and conversations just like you described that I remember and cherish the most. I took pictures but my mind's eye retains the most vivid ones.
It, like with you, changed my life.
With gratitude for all things I wish you the very best of Thanksgivings!
Marc, thank you! Your story is what I needed this morning - helped me remember my many positive experiences around the world and the wonder our country holds.
Great. This country has always been a dream destination for the people around the world because of the freedom, values and without any discrimination regardless of Race, Color & Nationality...Thanks for sharing a wonderful journey..
THANK YOU so much for writing so beautifully about your experience with the young Russian gal on the train. I too, in travels for WHO came to the same realization. Yes, America is struggling, America is going through a self-examination and re-assessment of what the what the greatest democracy in the world will be in the future, but I truly believe in the end, the American people will choose the path of goodness for the US and world, because at our core, that's who we are- the greatest force for goodness,truth and integrity!
Yes. The USA is the greatest country in the world. A simple conversation showed me that fact.
When I visited East Berlin after college. I bought the mandatory 25 oest (east) Marks for 25 western marks. This was not exactly an even exchange. I passed through American Checkpoint Charlie, crossed into East Berlin, and went to the plaza. This was the place where visitors were told how wonderful and glorious the Soviet Union was. They even let us take an elevator to the top of the East Berlin Radio Tower to see the view. While there, I met another student from the countryside. Like me, he was studying engineering. He spoke broken English and introduced me to his parents who proudly told me of the small car that that they had just received. They had placed the order for this car when their son was born, 22 years earlier. This small “put-put” car let them to take this trip into Berlin and see the sights along with the tourists. I met his family while they were looking all around from a view above the city. Suddenly, the father noticed the jagged line of the wall that cut the city in half. As we stared at the Berlin wall together, the father asked me a direct question which has haunted me for years.
As his father pointed to the jagged line of the Berlin wall, his son translated for me. “Die Mauer. Die Mauer” (the wall). And then through broken English he said “Is it better over there?” I gasped with a huge lump in my throat. Without a doubt, I knew the answer, but I couldn’t say. Because I realized that this family had lived for decades in the Soviet controlled land. They would never experience the freedom that I enjoyed by my citizenship. Later, when I waved goodbye to them and returned to West Berlin through American Checkpoint Charlie, I realizes the value of freedom. I had never felt so grateful to be an American citizen.
Three years later when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Berlin wall fell, I felt the same overwhelming sense of gratitude for my citizenship. And for the freedoms we enjoy in the USA.
Thank you it seems that today, if your an American it is unpopular to be thankful for the greatest country ever. But in this newsletter you have made it popular
I have traveled to 31 different countries and the people and the cultures are amazing.
It never fails, as I travel, “Are you from the USA?” - FYI, its seems my shoes apparently identify me as American, LOL.
Back to the topic.
The view is the same. People love America and what it stands for. The fact that the USA keeps trying, it struggles at times, but the USA and the people always find a way to come back to the ideals and beliefs, that make it great. To keep the dream alive.
The great melting pot of ideas. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you Marc for always writing amazing stories! I'm originally from former Czechoslovakia, but have been living in the United States for 23 years now. This country is such a blessing to all people around the world, and we need to fight to protect the freedoms we often take for granted. Keep up the great work. I'm a huge fan! Aloha from Eddie
Great story, it reminds me how we all take for granted all the advantages we have, and why 245 years after the revolution, people all over the world still try to and die trying sometimes to come here! Thanks for the reminder! God Bless America, and Ronald Reagan RIP, the greatest US President in my lifetime!
(Me too!) The greatest country in the world!
This post was moving and timely...just what I needed to hear right now and help me reorient going into Thanksgiving. Hope you're encouraged by hearing that your words were meaningful. Thanks for what you do every week with the newsletter.
it is worth protecting....
Freedom, like oxygen, is most precious when it is threatened and mostly unappreciated by those who depend on it most.
Marc,
Thanks for sharing your story. I always enjoy reading your posts. I have never replied. This one is different, and I feel compelled to reply.
As someone who emigrated to the USA in my early twenties, I can share with you that this is the greatest country ever known. Yes, it is a rich country, yes the standard of living is high, yes it is beautiful and large, yes it is diverse, and I could add many more adjectives to this list. But, none of these things are what makes it the greatest as these things could be found somewhere else.
America is an idea, and that is what makes it great. For those emigrants like me, America holds values and ideals that are universal and resonate within the souls of people of good conscience everywhere. And although we love our native countries, some of these universal ideals are foreign in our lands. This is what brings us here.
Lately, I find myself wondering, if America stops being who she is, where will I go? Where could people that share the idea of America go?
So, I am thankful to be here. I appreciate the difference. I just hope others did too.
Marc:
Boy did I ever enjoy this Thanksgiving newsletter! They've all been good but this one brought back memories and emotions and a gratefulness like none of the others.
I too rode that train. In my case, years before you did, in 1981, the year after we boycotted the Moscow Olympics and when Leonid Brezhnev was commanding troops in Afghanistan and the Cold War was not terribly cold.
Of all the castles and museums and monuments and theaters and silk road cities and Black Sea resorts that we visited, it was circumstances and conversations just like you described that I remember and cherish the most. I took pictures but my mind's eye retains the most vivid ones.
It, like with you, changed my life.
With gratitude for all things I wish you the very best of Thanksgivings!
What an eye opener! Amen! Thanks for the reminder of the privileges we take for granted!
Marc, thank you! Your story is what I needed this morning - helped me remember my many positive experiences around the world and the wonder our country holds.
Great. This country has always been a dream destination for the people around the world because of the freedom, values and without any discrimination regardless of Race, Color & Nationality...Thanks for sharing a wonderful journey..
Marc,
THANK YOU so much for writing so beautifully about your experience with the young Russian gal on the train. I too, in travels for WHO came to the same realization. Yes, America is struggling, America is going through a self-examination and re-assessment of what the what the greatest democracy in the world will be in the future, but I truly believe in the end, the American people will choose the path of goodness for the US and world, because at our core, that's who we are- the greatest force for goodness,truth and integrity!
Yes. The USA is the greatest country in the world. A simple conversation showed me that fact.
When I visited East Berlin after college. I bought the mandatory 25 oest (east) Marks for 25 western marks. This was not exactly an even exchange. I passed through American Checkpoint Charlie, crossed into East Berlin, and went to the plaza. This was the place where visitors were told how wonderful and glorious the Soviet Union was. They even let us take an elevator to the top of the East Berlin Radio Tower to see the view. While there, I met another student from the countryside. Like me, he was studying engineering. He spoke broken English and introduced me to his parents who proudly told me of the small car that that they had just received. They had placed the order for this car when their son was born, 22 years earlier. This small “put-put” car let them to take this trip into Berlin and see the sights along with the tourists. I met his family while they were looking all around from a view above the city. Suddenly, the father noticed the jagged line of the wall that cut the city in half. As we stared at the Berlin wall together, the father asked me a direct question which has haunted me for years.
As his father pointed to the jagged line of the Berlin wall, his son translated for me. “Die Mauer. Die Mauer” (the wall). And then through broken English he said “Is it better over there?” I gasped with a huge lump in my throat. Without a doubt, I knew the answer, but I couldn’t say. Because I realized that this family had lived for decades in the Soviet controlled land. They would never experience the freedom that I enjoyed by my citizenship. Later, when I waved goodbye to them and returned to West Berlin through American Checkpoint Charlie, I realizes the value of freedom. I had never felt so grateful to be an American citizen.
Three years later when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Berlin wall fell, I felt the same overwhelming sense of gratitude for my citizenship. And for the freedoms we enjoy in the USA.
Thank you it seems that today, if your an American it is unpopular to be thankful for the greatest country ever. But in this newsletter you have made it popular
Great write up Marc.
I have traveled to 31 different countries and the people and the cultures are amazing.
It never fails, as I travel, “Are you from the USA?” - FYI, its seems my shoes apparently identify me as American, LOL.
Back to the topic.
The view is the same. People love America and what it stands for. The fact that the USA keeps trying, it struggles at times, but the USA and the people always find a way to come back to the ideals and beliefs, that make it great. To keep the dream alive.
The great melting pot of ideas. Thank you for sharing your story.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Ugh. This isn’t a contest.
Even if it was the US lags far behind many countries in several important success measures.
Bye.
Thank you Marc for always writing amazing stories! I'm originally from former Czechoslovakia, but have been living in the United States for 23 years now. This country is such a blessing to all people around the world, and we need to fight to protect the freedoms we often take for granted. Keep up the great work. I'm a huge fan! Aloha from Eddie