I've been more conscious of my American-ness lately. I say the word "American" sensitively since I know some of my fellow American's (not from the U.S.) do not appreciate U.S.-er's claiming ownership of the name. I agree we are all American's... There is a reason the world refers to the people from the U.S. as American's and I believe it's simply because the U.S. is called the United States of America and actually has "America" in the name; I truly believe this is the reason for it and not any other theory on the self-centered-ness of the U.S. or the world only recognizing the U.S. as America.

The above tangent is one reason I'm unable to forget my U.S./American-ness. Another reason is I have the impulse and feel I deserve things to be just, true and fair. It sounds crazy, but being out of the states I realize the whole world doesn't expect the same basic rights. I know people think Americans are annoying because most will belabor and fight anything they feel unjust. Tonight, I realized that my credit card had been receiving fraudulent charges for six months. I was stupid enough to believe the charges were iTunes purchases so I kept paying my bill. Tonight, rather than fighting with the credit card company over disputing costs, I succumbed to cutting my losses and decided to move on. Most people who know me know I would never do that. Maybe I backed down more easily this time since I feel partially at fault for not catching the fraud earlier. At the same time, I feel lucky to be from a place where mediocrity and unjustness is not so easily accepted. I think definitely agree picking your battles is better than fighting every injustice, but I feel a warmth for the U.S. and glad I was embedded with the expectations