I’ve just returned home after almost two weeks in the United States for CES 2020. Each year, driving around, staying in hotels, eating out at Cafe’s and restaurants it’s easy to get frustrated with some of the things that from the outside looking in – they really don’t do too well.
This happens to me every year, be it their archaic payment system where I’m swiping my card (read: open to skimming) and signing my signature, or their strange petrol stations that barely recognise international customers forcing us into the store to pre-pay because their bowsers don’t like our credit cards and four-digit “zip codes”.
But let me tell you something, These last two weeks, I saw a side to the people of the USA that set that all aside. Their empathy.
Honestly, 90% of American’s we interacted with mentioned the fires burning back home here in Australia. They might have been the person taking our breakfast orders at the Cafe, or the shopkeeper at the corner store.
At one point I was stopped by an American while walking around CES – he recognised our Aussie accent as we were talking and stopped to let us know he was thinking of us and our country as the fires ravaged communities up and down the coast.
It was a humbling experience. The news reports in the USA were short but made it very clear there was a disaster taking place.
This concern for our nation and our citizens gave me a newfound love of the USA and its people. God Bless America and God Bless Americans perhaps should be the call.
We’ve seen an amazing outpouring of support both in words and in very kind donations from some of the highest-profile celebrities across the world, but it’s the support from average Americans you’re probably not hearing about, so here’s our shoutout to those who care – it means a lot.
