Chapter 15 letter fifteen

Brother Lu: Hello! I have written a lot of letters to you these days, and I will probably come to an end after finishing writing today, because I will be very busy in the future and will not have so much time to write letters.I hope that you are generally satisfied with these letters of mine, and that they have basically answered the questions you have raised.Over the years I have been here, I often miss my friends, and I feel sorry for not taking the time to write to you and introduce the United States that you want to know.Writing to you this time feels like I am writing to all my friends. When I write, their figures often appear in front of my eyes. I hope that they will all be interested in my stories about foreign countries.After finishing writing today, I will breathe a sigh of relief, and finally I am worthy of my old friend.

When I write the letter, I also always think with gratitude of a group of young American new friends we made here.A lot of the stories I write are their stories.They not only taught us to gradually adapt to life here, but when we stood on a strange land, we felt as if we had fallen into the moon. It is said that when our hearts are full of confusion, panic and confusion, their friendship gradually makes us feel peaceful, warm and fulfilling. They let us understand the United States not only because they have introduced us a lot of American conditions, But after a long time of contact, we found that they are the United States.

I hope I can introduce them to you when you come here one day, but by then, it may be difficult to find them anymore, they are used to living in constant flux, constantly making a living and looking for a better life , They moved very frequently and traveled far.We know that they are heading hopefully to different new worlds, and sooner or later they will walk out of our lives.However, we will always be grateful to them and will never forget the days we spent together.Without them, these letters of mine would not exist. The first thing that comes to mind is Mike Caplinger, he's a rich kid, but you can't tell.He was twenty-seven when we met.Standing there tall and big, twice my weight.He is very smart and knowledgeable, no matter what question I have, as long as I ask him, he has an answer, and he is always full of wisdom.I miss the days when we talked together.He studied computers and history in college.On the contrary, his cleverness made him very confused, because the range of his interests was too wide, and he didn't know what to choose.After graduating from college, he first found a temporary job at a gas station so that he could survive first, and then changed to other jobs, but they were all manual jobs, earning very little, and often complained about the lack of money just like me And worried.When he was working hard, I asked him if your parents were upset about your situation?You know this is a very wealthy family.He said, of course there is a little bit, but they know that they educated me since I was a child, and the road has to be walked out by myself.

Laura Cloninger is my English teacher and she volunteers.Twenty-three.This situation is very common in the United States.There are a large number of volunteer workers in all public service institutions such as museums, botanical gardens, libraries, and hospitals in the United States.When high school graduates apply for college, the principle of nature and human desire is abbreviated as "reasonable desire".Originally published in "The Book of Rites·The Book of Music": "For the feeling of a husband, it is best to have the experience of voluntary social service, so that it is easier to be admitted to a good university. In the United States, where we thought that "money is paramount", we found that Volunteer workers are very common everywhere, and there are many volunteer English teachers in every city who help new immigrants. The content of the class Laura and I are like "cultural exchange" is very interesting. Her father is very rich, But she also lived on her own as soon as she went to university. She studied French. When she was planning to study for a graduate student, her father told her that if you can finish your master's degree in one year, I will pay the tuition. She can only study desperately. She really got her degree in 2009. She considers herself lucky to have found a job in an elementary school right after graduation teaching English to immigrant children from all over the world. She loves being exposed to different cultures. She has a hundred dollars in her pocket When she was young, she took a diving training class and planned to explore the sea in the future. When she had five hundred dollars, she went to the snow-covered ski resort to learn to ski, and broke her arm on the first day. She was still happy when she came back. Hehe, live a happy life.

Francis Michael is a monk of the Holy Spirit Monastery. He was born in Philadelphia, a big city. He came to this monastery when he was in his twenties. After consideration, he decided to stay here.There is a set of procedures for entering a monastery, which is divided into several stages. While carrying out religious education and ritual training, it also enables newcomers to understand such a special life.At the end of each stage, you can make a new decision whether to stay or choose to leave. Francis is humorous, cheerful, smart and capable. I have even wondered for a long time how he would choose to stay in a poor and lonely place in the face of so many different choices, but he has lived here for more than ten years. up.He has given us very real help in our most difficult times.We like to visit him when we are free and ask him a lot of questions. He also likes to chat with us and asks many questions about China, but he never takes the initiative to mention Christianity to us.He introduced us to a part of America that was previously foreign to us.

When I think of Paul Holland, I think of his contagious laugh, which makes everyone forget their own troubles.He grew up in New York, where he graduated from college with a degree in microbiology.But he likes nature too much and doesn't like a restrained life.So he decided to leave the big city and become an artist.In the United States, when someone introduced himself to me as an artist or a musician at first, I was always in awe.It soon became apparent that the title simply meant that he was poor.They say in New York that if something falls on someone's head, it's an artist. Paul just chose to join such a rank.Since then, he has been selling works for a while and working for a while. These days are his low tide again. His old broken car "died" again, but he can still make the same laughter.Even when he was in his most difficult time, he still provided others with unreserved information about which fairs sold best, even if they were selling similar things to him.These messages from him really became our lifeline for a while.We had a lot of good conversations, one time when we talked about race, he heard that we called ourselves "colored people", he looked innocently surprised, stretched out his arms and I couldn't tell the difference .He asked me, what color do you think you are?I said of course it was yellow, and he burst out laughing, saying happily while laughing, it’s okay, it’s okay, if you’re yellow, I’m green! Salina Nelson is an anthropology graduate, a very beautiful girl who loves all things in nature.Most of what we have learned about animals and plants since we came to America is learned from her.When she entered university, she chose a major related to zoology. After taking a few classes, she found that she already knew what the teacher was talking about, so she switched to majoring in anthropology. Much "variety" very happy.After graduating from college, she and her husband lived a very hard-working life, doing almost any tiring job.She worked hard in a nursery for three years and accumulated practical experience. The year before last, she went to a very quiet place with beautiful scenery and opened a small farm, specializing in growing all kinds of spices and flowers without using any chemicals. This is the young couple. The ideal that people have always dreamed of, they are very firm environmental protectors.Over the years, we've been sharing their visions of beauty and listening to them paint their blueprints.When we went to see them last Thanksgiving, they were still in their infancy, struggling and tired, and in debt.The small farm has been thriving this year, and she happily sent a business card with their ideal printed behind the farm's name: chemical-free planting.

Bill Riddle is a very capable young man with a long ponytail and is very handsome. We get along very well.His father ran away from home when he could not remember, and his mother raised four siblings on government handouts.His sister almost repeated the significance of her mother's struggle for the emancipation of the proletariat and persisted in this struggle, becoming a single mother, and his brother a drug addict.He himself is a person with strong self-control ability, and he is not willing to let himself go at all.He began to live independently at the age of seventeen, supporting himself, doing whatever job he could find, and going to school for a certain amount of tuition.American schools "sell credits" as we say. Regardless of age or at any time, as long as you pay a fee, you can take a few credits of classes, and you can graduate when you have enough credits.Many American students go to school intermittently, usually because of economic problems.So Bill is 25 years old and hasn't finished college yet, but he's close to his goal and is in his final year of college.He had always wanted to be a forest policeman, so he chose to major in law. Now his ideal is to be admitted to the FBI.This year, he also went to school and worked at the same time. The work was very tiring, but he persevered and did well in both subjects.He enjoyed listening to conservative "talk shows" and declared himself a conservative, which was unusual for someone from his family.The average American thinks that conservatives speak for the rich because they always advocate cuts to government handouts. Bill grew up on relief, but he still hopes to reform the welfare system, although the welfare system in the United States is probably one of the least developed countries.Every time he went home, he would persuade his younger sister to go to school and start living independently.He finds it hard to say whether the American welfare system, taking care of single mothers like his sister, has saved or hurt them.

Joe Morrone is a very interesting guy.He was born in "Italian City" in New York, and his parents were the first generation of immigrants from Sicily. His father may have kept him away from the circle of Italian immigrants who had something to do with the "Mafia", and he was not allowed to learn Italian since he was a child. slang, and it turned out that he really became a complete American.He graduated from the art department and once served in the U.S. Navy. During these days, he traveled around the world with warships, drunk and messed up as soon as he got off the ship, and the discipline of the army made him miserable.But at some point he suddenly woke up, never drank alcohol, and became a vegetarian.He left the navy and returned to art.He has his own philosophy of life and is passionate about animal protection and environmental protection.Chatting with him has always benefited me a lot.

I also want to thank our friend Lydia Clements and her husband, Steven Glude, who have moved to the mountains of Tennessee.Living in the beautiful mountains has always been the dream of the beautiful Lydia.Her master's degree research topic is "women's witchcraft in different nationalities".But the next time I call, I'll make sure to ask the honeymoon couple what they're doing to make ends meet.Maybe they went back to school to study. Mike Kling was a hippie in the 1960s, traveling all over the world, full of knowledge.Then there's Darcy Jones, who looks weak and unruly, and creates powerful metal sculptures and oil paintings.It's really not easy for a girl to persist in this industry, and her life can only be like a muddy carrot, wash and eat a piece. Pam spends a lot of money to raise a large group of dogs and cats. Her knowledge of plant maintenance is very rich. No matter what problems you encounter, she can give you "prescriptions" in beautiful words.Her Christmas presents to us always include a really good cat treat.She works very hard and does not give up all the overtime opportunities. I think she needs the most care from others, but she is always caring about others. Lauren Mcleod also graduated from the Department of Art, and even went to Italy to paint and sketch. Her self-portraits are very tasteful, but she really can't make a living from them. Recently, she went to California to re-enroll, and this time she can only learn massage.Gina Seymour, who studies Applied Mathematics, is a girl with very clear thinking. She handles things impeccably and teaches us a lot of basic knowledge about the United States.And David, we had a couple of long and very informative conversations.They all inspired me a lot.

There's also Sander Heilig and his wife Karin Albert, a very "American" family. Sander is a very typical Jew. His grandfather came to the United States in search of freedom in order to escape the discrimination and persecution of Jews that was common in Russia at that time.His father served as a soldier in the U.S. Army in World War II and was unable to recover after being wounded and discharged.Thinking that all scientific concepts can be reduced to some expressions, it is impossible to start another career in the peaceful life after the war.Therefore, Sander still relies on government funding to study in college. He belongs to the generation that accepted the new trend of thought after the 1960s. He once had a fierce dispute with his father, who was an honorary soldier, because of his anti-Vietnam War views.He often felt guilty about it after his father died. Karin is a first-generation immigrant and still retains her German citizenship.Three generations of her family were lawyers, but her father was inevitably involved in the war during World War II and became a soldier in the German army. After the war, he lived in a prisoner-of-war camp of the Allied forces for several years.When the two families met in America, it was the fiftieth anniversary of World War II.As we sit in this gathering, a great sense of historical vicissitudes strikes me.They are all very critical thinkers, and we are very grateful for their many help.

After coming here, new immigrants often lament the hardships and difficulties. Almost all the people who came here for the first time have experienced the dilemma of being cornered and struggling.However, every day with our American friends, I find that they all have to fight on their own.They are all native-born Americans, even including a few wealthy children. Their lives are not as smooth as we imagined.In addition to not having language problems, many of them have to go through the difficulties we have experienced here.In contrast, their attitude towards life often appears more relaxed.I found that this is not entirely because they are born and bred, there is a very important reason is the difference in life concept. They pay special attention to personal will, personal life and personal happiness, so personal struggle is also justified, because without the latter, there is no former.Conversely, without the former, there would be no motivation for the latter.At the same time, the entire society, from laws to people's habits, highly respects individual life, individual happiness, individual will, and individual will, and regards the freedom of individual will and individual struggle as above all else.This is logically different from that of us Chinese who have always placed social interests above personal interests, and believed that individual people can sacrifice for society, and individuals should also sacrifice for society ethically.We Chinese put the prosperity of society on the premise of personal sacrifice and the premise that the world is for the public.If everyone only cares about themselves and everyone is selfish, how can there be social morality?If there is no social morality, how can there be social prosperity and people's happiness?Americans put social prosperity on the basis of individual freedom and individual struggle.They feel that if there is no freedom of personal will and happiness in personal life, who will fight?Without the struggle of the majority, how can society prosper? I don't want to talk about the priority of personal will and social interests.The benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom. So, in an America that puts "personal will" first, is everyone selfish?Are you mercenary in your daily life?Are people very cruel and ruthless?There can be very different views on this. Sometimes, it involves a person's life experience, life situation and perspective of looking at things, whether he has the opportunity to see a wider range of social phenomena, and whether he has seen the ins and outs of these phenomena .Here I can only give you some examples. Not long after I came to the United States, I saw a weary man at the exit of a supermarket with cards asking for alms beside him.These people are called homeless here.There are quite a few such homeless people in the United States, mainly concentrated in big cities.The causes of homelessness are very complex, but they all have no property, no job, no place to live.Almost all cities have homeless shelters, most run by churches and charities that provide simple accommodation and food.I used to pick up a homeless person from a shelter to and from get off work every day.He works hard, is polite and smart.He carries a lunch provided by the shelter with him every day.He told me that it is not a problem for him to eat and live.His problem is that he can't help buying alcohol when he has money, and he can't stop drinking when he gets drunk.His brothers and sisters were desperate for him, and only the shelter tirelessly helped him for free, giving him food, housing, finding a job, and helping him with his alcoholism.But the shelter is legally out of control of his money, so he still gets drunk a lot, so he can't have a driver's license.The only way the shelter could keep him away was when he was drunk, and he was asked to sober up on the sidewalk first. The shelter and all charities are funded by private donations.As a non-profit organization, charities can use various methods to raise funds from the society.So, how many people donate money? Americans are usually very clear about money.When friends or colleagues meet in a hotel bar, each person usually pays their own bill.This makes the Chinese very unaccustomed to it, but Americans can't figure out what's wrong with it. After a long time, I found that Americans mean to have a meal together, which means to chat with each other at this time, but the place for chatting is chosen in A restaurant is very different from the Chinese concept of "please have a meal".In the United States, adult children live in their parents' home and sometimes have to pay some rent to their parents.Most Americans spend their money very well, and almost no one is ostentatious.On the one hand, it is not easy to make money, and there are too many places to spend money.There is basically no self-sufficiency in the traditional way of life here, and the modern way of life depends on work in exchange for everything in life.On the other hand, surrounded by high consumption, the temptation of money is too great.Money can never be too much but too little, especially in wealthy America.But whether anyone donates money and how to donate to the law actually has little to do with the amount of money, and more explains the mental outlook of most people in society. My friend Joe is an artist, but art is difficult to support himself, so he has to work part-time. The money he earns is not much to support himself, and he is a person who lives by every cent.The first time I saw him stop and pay a homeless person, and greet him in a friendly way, wishing the homeless person a good evening, I was really taken aback.It was only later that I learned that this self-proclaimed liberal youth had donated money to Greenpeace, Animal Protection Organization, Amnesty International, etc.He and his wife usually dress in rags, but fortunately this is also the style of an artist, and the style of a liberal young man.He also often wants to give me a little bit of socialist truth, but he can't forgive the history of Chinese people playing mahjong on TV. On Thanksgiving Eve the first year, we ran into an old lady at the grocery store.She must give me ten yuan, saying it is a holiday gift.It seems that she has already retired, and she will not be a very rich person, but she said that today is Thanksgiving, a day when the people of North America thank this new continent for giving them food and clothing, so she made up her mind before going out today, to send Ten bucks to someone who needs money.I told her that I have a job and I am not short of money, and asked her to give the money to those who need it more.When thanking her from the bottom of my heart, I couldn't help being very emotional. The United States is a consumer society, and it takes money to go out, and it is difficult to move without money.The Metropolitan Museum of New York, a world-renowned large museum, is maintained by private funds such as the Rockefeller Foundation.Tours are generally six dollars.But if you have no money, or you say you have no money, you can use any coin, nickel, dime, or quarter, and go in and visit for a whole day, from Europe, Asia, Africa to American Indians, from From prehistoric to modern times, there are countless art treasures for you to see and take photos. The guards are still polite and respectful to you, because you are poor but love art.American friends told me that many private museums practice this practice, and it sounds like it should be done for granted.However, almost any American who comes here, as long as he can get the six dollars in his pocket, he will never go in with a coin.This is what we see as American enlightenment. Maybe you will say that the people who go to such a large art museum are probably educated people, and the situation is quite special.Then I can tell you another situation, that is, in department stores and large stores in the United States, if you buy something within the specified period (some are one month, some are three months), you are not allowed to return it for any reason, as big as a tape recorder. The same goes for VCRs.The customers of these stores are the most ordinary Americans, and without a general moral quality, you can imagine that such a policy cannot be carried out at all. You probably already know the famous Carnegie Foundation.Its founder, Andrew Carnegie, was the son of a poor worker who came to America from Scotland in the middle of the last century.After he became the steel magnate of the United States, it is said that he had thought about handling his wealth for many years, and finally decided to establish a foundation to serve the society.The United States is the richest country in the world, and this is reflected in the fact that there are many, many foundations.For expensive facilities such as music, art, medical research, etc., the foundation plays a major role. You can see the ethos of this society by looking at how people spend money and how the society promotes spending money.Of course, American society is of all kinds, and it is not surprising.Hollywood stars are rich and ostentatious, and their careers dictate that showing off is a strategy.The really rich don't show it off, because they know it's not honorable in society, and they don't want to be criticized.Most people are not rich, but "sufficient food and clothing, honor and disgrace" is common.There are not many comparisons between rich and poor that are common among Chinese people here, but there are many kind-hearted people who are willing to help others when they can.Therefore, there are many organizations in the society to persuade people to donate money, some for the research of a rare disease, some for the relief of hungry people in Africa, some for the protection of the environment, and so on.Those who donate money are neither famous nor profitable, and there is no pressure. It all depends on "level of consciousness".The two major parties in the United States, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, spend a lot of money to run for the presidency, and the funds for the election of congressmen and officials at all levels also rely on private donations.As I wrote this, I remembered a statistic that said that in terms of social and political donations per person per year, the average Jewish in the United States is about sixty dollars, and the average Chinese in the United States is less than half a dollar.Interestingly, people think that Jews are known for being petty, while Chinese people are always thought to have grown up in a culture that puts society above the individual. I read in the newspaper last year that there was a couple of elderly people who had worked hard to save millions of dollars in property.When they are old and sick, this money is enough for them to spend a prosperous and decent old age.They think it's a pity to spend the money they have saved all their lives in this way in their later years.After much deliberation, they arranged everything, said goodbye to their friends and neighbors, donated all their property to charity, and took their own lives together.The old couple are white. Not long ago, there was another old woman published in the newspaper. She was very poor all her life, she washed clothes for a living, lived frugally, and had no education.She saved more than 100,000 yuan and decided to donate it to the school.President Clinton invited her to the White House for dinner, but she didn't go to the White House to make money.The airline rushed to send her a free ticket.She said she was not used to flying and would rather take the train.But the train tickets are no longer available.The boss of the railway company paid for an extra carriage specially for her.The old woman is black. Recently, McDonald's has a prize promotion. Someone won the highest prize of one million dollars, but sent the prize ticket to a children's hospital in Tennessee.The odds of winning this prize are one in 200 million.The winner has not been named.By the way, I have to mention this hospital. This hospital treats serious young children’s diseases. Its financial support mainly relies on donations. It treats sick children equally regardless of whether they have money to pay, and even pays for them. of parents' living expenses in this city.Most of the donations this hospital receives each year are under fifty dollars and come from ordinary people. When I think of these cases, I just want to illustrate that the United States, a society that highly respects individual life, personal life, personal will, and personal will, and emphasizes individual struggle everywhere, is based on mutual respect and tolerance in the relationship between people, and Not a ruthless scramble.Of course, as I said long ago, there are all kinds of people in the United States, and there are many people who are selfish and mercenary.However, this is not the tone in America.In the United States, individual will and social morality complement each other, so social morality is very common in this "individual first" society.Public places are clean and tidy, public facilities are safe and reliable, and public order is well organized.After coming to the United States for a few years, not only did I not see quarrels in public places, I didn't even see scrambling for the first place.People who have just come from China will ask their family members or friends to take care of them constantly when they go shopping and sightseeing, pay in line, get on the bus, etc., "wait a minute" and "don't rush".We are used to being the first in China. If we don’t get on the bus first, we can’t buy a ticket. Here we have to give in to each other. Competing for the first place makes people look at us, because it doesn’t respect others.Respect for personal life, personal life, personal will, personal will, specifically, to ask others to respect themselves, and at the same time, we must first absolutely respect others. Respect for individuals and social morality, this extremely deep, extremely long-standing, and extremely common social awareness has produced a consensus that everyone must abide by fair "rules of the game."At any time, in doing anything, "fouling" is the worst and most unforgivable thing.This consensus is the social basis for the normal operation of a legal society like the United States.The systematized laws that cover everything in detail are the "rules of the game", and everyone is equal before the law.The Constitution is the supreme norm of these rules.But, as in any game, the possibility of fouling and not getting caught, or thinking you can and not getting caught, still tempts some to foul.Americans believe that the most likely to do this, and the most likely to succeed in fouling is always the power, influence, and organized force. Therefore, the most likely to foul is the US government.They believe that individual fouls, even fouls such as group crimes, are still within the controllable range, and if there is a fundamentally successful foul at the government level, there may be a real loss of control.In order to restrain the federal government's foul impulse, the founders of the United States wrote these short ten amendments.It became the cornerstone of the freedom and happiness of the American people. I am closing these letters, it has been a very pleasant experience writing to you.In the future, if possible, maybe I will continue to write some.But now I'm coming to an end.You asked about the source of my materials. In addition to various American newspapers and periodicals, historical materials mainly come from two books. These two books are very interesting. The materials we use are only a small part of them. You can borrow them if you have the opportunity take a look.They are: "The Bill of Rights and Landmark Cases" by Edmund Lindop, 1989, and "In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action" by Ellen Alderman, Caroline Kennedy, 1991. wish it is good! Linda