I owe an apology to Americans. I have always considered them to loud, pushy and in your face. My opinion was formed after my first experience with Americans on a day excursion from London to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon back in 1995. The Americans on the tour were loud and inconsiderate of anyone else on the bus. "Brash Americans," I thought - and the thought has percolated ever since.In my mind, one of the many reasons I like Canada is that Canadians are polite, friendly and downright nice people. Certainly nicer than their loud and brash neighbours with whom they are often confused. However, I met many Americans while holidaying in Cannon Beach that I could very well have mistaken for being Canadian. They were polite, friendly and downright nice people. Sure some of them were loud, but not everyone speaks at a decibel that is pleasant to my ears.
Over our conference breakfasts and dinners we got to know real people with real lives - a tired pastor and his young family; a young mother giving thanks that July was the last cancer treatment for her five year old son; two elderly sisters relying on God to help them make ends meet in their old-age; a grandmother raising her two young grandchildren on her own. The conference speaker, Ray Pritchard all the way from Mississippi, was the epitome of sincerity complete with his southern 'Y'All' drawl. Listen to Ray Pritchard's southern style yourself at http://www.keepbelieving.com/.
And it wasn't just the conference attendees who wooed us. The store attendants, the photo gallery owner and the vacationers enjoying the beach were just as friendly and welcoming. I seriously rethought my prejudice and propensity to paint an entire nation with the same garish colour based on an initial interaction, and a few subsequent ones, with their countrymen. The only unfriendly American we encountered on our trip was the customs official as we crossed over into the States. But then, it is her job to be curt, unfriendly and intrusive.
I have a new appreciation for my neighbours across the line. No doubt they have their faults too, but far be it for me to be the first to throw a stone.
