I don't know where this saying came from, but I tend to agree. I've lived outside of the United States for nearly twenty years now and Nigeria has become home. As I write this I am visiting my home of origin and am even sleeping in the same room that I slept in about 45 years ago with three of my sisters.I've been back for over a month now and I have certainly enjoyed my time back with my mom and visiting other family members and sharing bits of the American culture with my kids and husband, but the thing I think I have apprecited most is the order I see in the institutions that are the social caretakers and the orderliness of most citizens living within the society. Most of all, I love my nearly daily walks around Lake Sacajawea, a lake and park system that has been such a part of my childhood.
As I walk around the lake I see how well it is cared for, as I observe the preperations for the Independence Day weekend I am amazed at how well the details are planned out. I see how people drive on the highways and how most follow the rules of the road. I see how organizations have concern for making positive contributions to the well being and education of the children it serves.
Granted, there are parts of the society that are not so great or seem so trite after my years in Nigeria, but I'm lucky to be a part of two cultures. It's funny, I'd say the US culture is one to be admired from a distance and the Nigerian culture is better close up. It's people that make the difference and I have great friends and families in both cultures
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