Speaking as a US citizen, it can be difficult to like the United States in these trying times. It feels like every day there is some fresh horror waiting for us in the headlines, and we all just shake our heads in shame at the things our so-called leaders do. But despite all of that, there are still things to love about this country.
Trying to find pride and inspiration in our country, Reddit user Tannerman1 asked, "What does America do better than most countries? " Sure, some of these answers are subjective, and I didn't agree with every single response, but reading through these comments did give me a little spark of hope that maybe not everything is as terrible as it seems. There's still a lot of good out there.
Here's what everyone had to say: 1. "The US has amazing national parks, state parks, and local parks. " 2.
"As an American living in Europe, what we do better is breakfast. " 3. "Soul music.
Rhythm and blues music. Funk music. Gospel music.
" 4. "The public library system. In my county alone, we have over 10 different libraries with transfers between them, so there’s a vast selection of movies, books, magazines, etc.
" 5. "I was born in Europe and moved to the USA as a young teen. The U.
S. does assimilation really well. Like, you become part of some group fairly quickly, and there are many to pick from.
In Europe, we had two boys in school, one from the US and one from India; those kids got picked on for years and years. They were never ever going to be considered to be one of us. The U.
S. has this thing where if you play a sport and win as a team, or get through something difficult together like a math competition or a science lab, or play in a band that sounds good, suddenly you are one of everyone else. I had never experienced that before.
It felt good. " 6. "THEME PARKS!!
There are so many to choose from besides just Disney and Universal, and the few I've been to have been fantastic. Here in NZ, we have one theme park with ONE rollercoaster, and it's the Corkscrew (AKA baby's first rollercoaster). " 7.
"Entrepeurship. The US has lots of people/companies that provide the capital to enable fresh ideas from science, tech, and other fields to succeed in big ways. For the most part, it’s the idea and know-how that are limiting, not the support.
" —u/rigored 8. "Charity. Americans as a whole donate more to charities than any other nation, both in absolute terms and per capita.
Most Americans probably see ads or donation boxes daily. " —u/WiryCatchphrase 9. "Agriculture.
The US is a behemoth when it comes to agriculture and agriscience. The biggest issue is prioritizing logistics over taste. Those yields, however, come with technologies other nations find repugnant and so ban American imports to protect domestic agriculture.
" 10. "College choice: you can pick your own school, change schools halfway through, change major and minors fairly easily. This isn’t the case in a lot of other countries.
" 11. "Land people on the moon. USA: 12.
Rest of the World: Zero. " 12. "We have the most Olympic medals.
So, Olympic-ing. " 13. "We dominate media and pop culture around the world.
Nobody else comes close to the US in this regard. " 14. "I haven't been in a lot of countries, but from my limited experience, it's the Americans with Disabilities Act.
I have a lot of complaints about it, but I can still say that using public transportation doesn't require me to take 40 steps up or down, or travel miles to find an elevator that can fit one person at a time and moves so slowly it's barely usable. " —u/oneofyrfencegrls 16. "Ranch dressing.
We have something labelled as 'ranch' where I am, but it's not the same as actual American ranch. Not even close. Real American ranch is amazing.
" 17. "Ironically enough, science. The US has more Nobel Prize winners than all other countries combined.
And here's the key thing: many of those researchers were immigrants, or at least didn't have family going back to the Mayflower. " 18. "In London pubs, none of the locals would speak more than a few words to me.
Americans? We’ll talk for half an hour to someone who dialed the wrong number. " —u/Lemur-Tacos-768 19.
"Unlimited soda refills and unlimited ice cubes to go with it. " —u/bret_234 20. "The actual land of the USA — such incredible and diverse landscapes.
" 21. "Sports! The US attracts top world talent.
" 22. "Barbecue. I’m Canadian, and we’ll barbecue year-round, but they call that grilling.
I’m talking American barbecue. Fuck me up with that brisket you’ve been smoking all week, Uncle Sam. Hell yes.
" 23. "The United States adopts more children than the rest of the world combined. " 24.
"Honestly, I believe we have a very large number of outspoken people, most of whom are friendly. Most of what we have is pretty damn good. I wish Americans traveled abroad more and learned how good we have it.
" —u/thatguysemperfi 26. "I love the Spooky Season and the Halloween spirit in America!