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I Believe the U.S. Is a Wonderful Place — and I Grew Up Overseas
I recently came across a piece in the Huffington Post written by Liz Lemarchand, titled Why I Left The U.S. 20 Years Ago… And Why I Won’t Be Coming Back. Liz worked 60 hours a week for a corporation in DC, yet was unsatisfied with the “American Dream” and decided to move to a different country to find happiness. On the surface, this would seem like another story of someone “finding herself.” But instead of keeping it personal, Liz decides to attack American ideals. Let’s take a look at her accusations:
At 23, I was already living the corporate rat race, working nearly 60 hours a week for a huge multinational conglomerate in Washington, D.C., and I felt too young for the lifestyle I was leading. In the course of my two years there, Washington had turned me from a naive political science graduate with aspirations of single-handedly changing a failing political system into a jaded, disenchanted old lady.
The tipping point came while I was sitting at home one Sunday evening. I felt a mounting sense of dread at the prospect of having to go to work the next day, and I started strategizing about how to stage my own kidnapping in order to get a few days off. That’s when I realized that I had been betrayed. I had believed every word of the American dream — work hard, make money, be happy — but it wasn’t so. Something had to change.
I had friends who were working hard to prepare for early retirement, and even though I had no idea what else I could do, there was no way I was waiting that long to enjoy life.
Liz doesn’t explain why she doesn’t try a different career path. She believes it is America’s job to make her happy, instead of embracing the fact that she has the freedom to do something different with her life. There are thousands of people who immigrate to the US every year to pursue the American dream — the dream she feels has “betrayed” her — and there are millions of Americans who are very happy living out the American dream.
I grew up in the Philippines and for many Filipinos, their dream is to come to America on a work visa so they can send money home to their family. They know that in America they will have more economic mobility and a better quality of life overall. If you told them that a woman in America left because the American dream “betrayed” her, they would shake their heads in disbelief.
For those who grow up in a third-world country, the American dream means having the economic opportunity to get a job that will allow you to provide for your family and live in comfort. That is why as of 2016 there were nearly 2 million foreign-born Filipinos living in the US. After Liz decides to move to the West Indies she writes:
A few short months after giving my notice, I was sitting on a plane, looking out the window at the palm trees and sugar cane fields as we landed. It was the most liberating experience of my life because, finally, I was doing something for myself that I chose.
Leaving the US was not the first decision that Liz chose for herself, so to claim it was is dishonest. Presumably, she chose what to major in, what city to live and work in while she was in the US, and made a myriad of other decisions. She chose to work 60 hours a week until she felt burnt-out. She had the agency to make all of those decisions. But instead, she makes it sound like she was a slave to the system until she decided to leave America. She continues:
Living abroad helped me see that life is not a race or a competition. The people I met abroad showed me how to find pleasure in leisurely lunches and long conversations. While I had always felt my life in the States was like a hierarchical ladder, with work being on the top rung, my life abroad felt more like a circle ― work was important but so were friends, hobbies, and personal happiness. My lifestyle abroad felt more natural and focused on enjoying the present moment rather than a constant struggle to achieve “success” at some undetermined time in the future.
While there is some truth to this notion that on average Americans work more hours that people in Europe, Liz fails to acknowledge that she could have achieved work-life balance in the US. Liz instead blames the US; the US work culture is the problem, not her personal decision to work 60 hours a week.
Liz goes on the explain why she never returned to the US, and this is where we see her true colors. She thinks America is a terrible place because we have security at some of our schools. She explains:
The U.S. is not the same country today that it was when I left it 20 years ago. I didn’t live in the America that’s scared to send its children to school for fear that they’ll be massacred by an adolescent with access to assault weapons. When I went back for a visit in the spring of 2017, I was horrified to learn that my high school in upstate New York has become a kind of gated community — no unauthorized visitors are allowed on the premises. Students need to pass through metal detectors to get inside and are patted down as if they are about to board a plane. My former elementary school is now littered with security cameras. It deeply saddens me that my teacher friends have to worry that they may need to start bringing guns into their classrooms for self-defense. It feels like the situation has gotten out of control and that America has spiraled into a gun-slinging Westworld.
The US is not, however, the only country that has security measures or armed guards at its high schools; the threat of gun violence at schools is not a uniquely American trait. At the international high school I attended in the Philippines, we had armed guards at the gate and no one was traumatized by this. We all knew that it was a necessary measure to protect us from terrorists or anyone who might try to make a buck off of kidnapping American students.
Liz claims that in the US “the situation has gotten out of control” and that adolescents have access to assault weapons. First off, I think that every school should have armed guards so that the situation does not get “out of control.” Secondly, “assault weapons” is simply a term gun control advocates use to mean “a rifle that looks scary.” It is also worth noting that the “AR” in AR-15 does not stand for “assault rifle,” it stands for Armalite Rifle and the AR-15 is semi-automatic, not automatic.
Liz then doubles down on the idea that America is evil because we have guns:
Living in Europe has afforded me a luxury I never thought would matter — gun control. There’s nothing better than knowing that no one I know owns a gun. In the south of France, where I live, it is absolutely impossible to walk into a store, buy a gun and ammo, and leave with them in the same day. And beyond all of that, the military-grade weapons you can buy anywhere in the U.S. are illegal for ordinary citizens to purchase.
Liz admits what most leftists will not: she wants to live in a world where all the law-abiding citizens have been stripped of their firearms. I can only assume that is what she means by “gun control” since she praises the fact that no one she knows owns a gun. And I’m sure the criminals and rapists in Europe are also happy that no one she knows owns a gun.
We already have gun control here in the US. If someone has a history of violence or a criminal record they cannot legally purchase a firearm. Liz regurgitates the anti-gun talking point that “military grade” weapons can be purchased anywhere in the US. In reality, however, it is illegal for ordinary citizens to purchase automatic weapons in this country.
She adds that Europe is great because of “free” healthcare and “free” education. She is pushing the leftist narrative that one cannot be happy without government handouts and it is the government’s job to make everyone’s life better.
Living abroad is not a choice for everyone, and I’m certainly not advocating that people massively immigrate elsewhere. However, it should be cause for reflection: Why is everyone taught to seek something better for their future rather than enjoy the present? Why is the U.S. government unwilling to fix issues around mental health, gun control and education, when those things will clearly improve the lives of its citizens? How many people have to die before something is done? Why is health and well-being for all not a national priority?
Anyone who says the US needs to become more like Europe in order to make citizens happy does not understand the point of the US. It is not the government’s job to ensure your happiness; it is their job to protect your God-given rights so that you can pursue your happiness. And no, health care and education are not rights, they are commodities.
Seeking something better for your future and having the freedom to do so is not an evil thing to strive towards; in fact, it is what has made American such an amazing place to live. I am glad to live in a country where we have freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. No other country recognizes and protects these God-given rights and it’s tragic that Liz cannot appreciate that.
Published in General
She had an an attack of adolescence and 20 years later hasn’t grown up. That’s ok that happens a lot, but it’s not the best position from which to project virtue.
I have no problem with people leaving to find someplace that pleases them. It also makes sense to me that the people who leave don’t particularly like America. I also think America is better off without them — some people make America better by leaving. My bigger concern is the people who want to be here — I am all for immigrants who can support themselves and come here through legal channels. I just don’t want to import welfare cases and line jumpers.
When I was in my second year in law school, I dated a girl whose father was a senior partner in a big Memphis law firm. I stayed with them a week during one of the breaks. He worked a lot of Saturdays, and some Sundays. That was when I decided the law wasn’t for me.
She picked the wrong job. I look forward to work just about every day. My work is complex enough to satisfy my pea brain, there’s no stress, and I’m over-paid. For what more could one ask? Plus, the last time I went in to talk about a raise, I said I’d rather have Friday afternoons off, and I got it.
I approve of people who find the US not to their liking to vote with their feet and find a better home. After all it is a free country and no one is keeping them here against their will. America is an amazing country whose citizens are not defined by blood but spirit. I am of the opinion that millions of Americans are born each day and some are even lucky enough to be born here. The rest have to struggle to find their way home.
Are you sure her name is Liz? Sounds just like Julia to me. I wish her well, and am happy she is there, and not here. I love this nation, warts and all. If US citizens decide that America is not for them,,,, Bon Voyage! Oh, and please renounce your US citizenship. No backsliding now.
I’ve rejected as snarky and self-centered my first question (why should I care what she says?). So here are two more:
What are the odds that a positive perspective on the U.S. would see the light of day at HuffPo? How does this person come to have valid views on the U.S. if she hasn’t been here (much) in 20 years?
All I can say is that after looking at various items on the web about Guadaloupe, I think I might end up there. Please don’t take my remark to indicate that I am anti-American. After all, I live in California, and I don’t feel I have lived in the real USA for at least the last 15 years.
Where is she going to go when the volcano erupts?
@hangon
Problem is, the volcanic activity world wide is on a serious increase. December 2017 was one of the most active months in quite a while.
The Mt Konocti volcano, just a forty minute walk from my home, was believed to be a dormant Northern California volcano. Then its sister volcano in Chile blew up, after a mere six months of warnings. Sadly, most of the villagers in Chile ignored all the warnings. So the folks in the closest village died.
So now we have had the US Geological Society come and place electronic sensors on Mt K’s shoulders. These instruments would give us at least six weeks of definite and government official-endorsed warning. (I still worry much more about wild fires, that left 30,000 of my fellow citizens homeless, but that all could change once plumes of smoke were emitted from Konocti’s dome.)
Yellowstone is yet another super volcano situation that is brewing. The San Francisco Bay area doesn’t have much of a chance of escaping from a “big one” that is due some time in the next 30 years. The latter is not volcano related, but a large earthquake could be death for up to 200,000 people. (And a blow to the US economy as well.)
Back in the 1980’s there was a couple who wanted to retire somewhere that was peaceful and not known for any imminent disasters from a vengeful Mother Nature. They did a lot of research and made a major decision. So they moved down to South America. Unfortunately for them, they had chosen the Falkland Islands, right before that place became a war zone courtesy of Great Britain and Argentina.
This is the sentence that jumped out at me:
If that doesn’t perfectly sum up a hedonistic know-nothing life, I don’t what else could.
Can someone please get her article to the convoy that just reached our southern border? They need to know how bad it is here, that they should head for France with all speed.
Did she include her address?, maybe she can put them up.
That leaped up and made a petulant face at me, too. I assume she is living in an old picturesque apartment building that was erected because someone was looking beyond happy hour.
yelp* review by Liz Lemarchand
United States
* 1 review
$$$$ Country, Ethos, Shining Hill City
Opened 240 years ago
OMG, there was sooooo much buzz about this place so I got reservations. Worst decision I ever made. Everything is so expensive and you have to pay for your own extras – it’s like you’re responsible for taking care of yourself! – and the waitstaff are always in a hurry so you can’t really ever relax and just hang out with your friends. Worst country EVAR! I won’t be coming back.
Great post! I recall a letter to the editor in our local paper, written by one of our leftists. He stated there was nothing wrong with socialism, and he had lived in a socialist country (unamed) for years, and had no problems with the government. I kept thinking to myself, “Move back! Move back!”
There are some valid points. It is not the same as it was 20 years ago – our healthcare system is out of control – and it didn’t start with Obamacare – overcharged, over-drugged etc. It is a rat race in many companies where people put in 50-70 hours with no family time – all the modern communication in 20 years has not really helped a work life balance. But all you said about opportunity and choices is so true. Many people from foreign countries come here for opportunity, education, health treatment. We have everything to be thankful for.
Boy, if it’s not envy with these lefties, it’s ingratitude.
Liz will never not be a miserable person, even in the south of France with all the “free” education and “free” healthcare she can consume.
I bet her American family and friends so look forward to her visits. Ahem.
Just stay out of Nice.
So, the feminists’ dream, right? Having it all? Just like those toxic men?
Err, yeah. Suspect this short phrase has more to do with your issue than most else.
Right. Little green men stole into your mind while you were sleeping, and forced you to take this job, forced you to live in the swamp, and turned you into the evil queen from Snow-White overnight. Yup. Fact of the matter is that you and reality were, at this point in your life, apparently quite unacquainted. Sadly, that’s happening more and more with folks who spend their late teens and early twenties in the ivy-covered halls of academe. Perhaps if you’d been inoculated with a bit more of it in your youth, the effects of suddenly encountering it after college would have been less devastating.
She may call this an “awakening,” (stipulate that I’m not sure that she does, just that she probably would). I call it lunacy.
The US that she left 20 years ago was wonderful, and now it is awful, mainly, I am sure because, Trump. So, why did she leave 20 years ago, then?
Maybe if we explain this to the hordes of folks trying to get into this country, they’ll all go to Europe? Maybe we could hire Liz to do this?
I dunno. Maybe ask Alfie Evans? Or the head of the NHS?
You’d better hope that all those twenty-somethings who are going to have to pick up the tab for your ‘free’ benefits don’t bail on their social contract with you and go somewhere else, then. Because, frankly, the latest rounds of young people coming into Europe from elsewhere don’t seem to have even your limited level of “sticktoitiveness,” and I’ve seen reports that emigration from France and Germany is booming.
All the best, Liz. Glad it worked out for you. Check back when you’re in your 70s, OK?
I wonder how much of her problem came from living and working in Washington, DC. Having grown up in the DC suburbs and lived and worked there for a while in recent years, I find myself very happy to be 750 miles or so outside the Beltway.
I hope a lot of unhappy people read her article and follow her.
Personally, I feel blessed to live in America. My family has always had a safe home, and plenty to eat. None of us are rich by American standards, but we are all wealthy by any other standard.
Yes, our country has its faults, and sometimes it isn’t sympathetic to those who don’t accept personal responsibility. Yet, being able to be personally responsible for how your life goes (Liberty), is a wonderful, and rare, thing.
I hope she never does cone back,,and also that Huffpost’s entire readership will be inspired by her essay to pack up and leave our country as well. It’s not for them; they deserve no place here.
Using the woman’s story as example, the author produced a well written logically thought out piece. Good stuff, thanks. BTW, I would like to personally invite all of the subject’s dozens of friends, and their friends, to join with her as emigrants one and all.
Amen!
She probably has to put a shilling in the meter to get any hot water out of the taps, and they probably hammer when she does, as well.
Evidently, Liz is unfamiliar with the lengths that the Jewish community in France goes to protect their children while at school. Just googling “Jewish school security France” brought up this Jerusalem Post article. It’s a few years old now, but something tells me the security hasn’t been ratcheted down too much since then.
I’ve been all over and nothing beats the ole’ U.S. of A. No place is perfect though. I have to admit that not being allowed to take leisurely lunches or have long conversations with the other humans is a strange law we have here. Government should definitely do something about it.
Yeah, her comment about leisurely lunches and long conversations struck me as odd. She mentions her new friends abroad showed her how to find “pleasure” in these activities. This woman had to move abroad to learn how to do this? My friends and I take great pleasure with leisurely lunches and long conversations, usually consisting of pizza and beer while we talk about the football game we’re watching . . .
You meant soccer, right?
LOL! ‘Murican football . . .
Commie.