A Letter About Opportunity

Dear Lauren,

Is being born in the States still a ‘luxury’ or are we, as a country, just stuck in our American Dream? Some people say that the Dream is “not about having stuff, it’s about having the OPPORTUNITY”.

Does that opportunity include:

• Human Rights for ALL 
• Medicare for ALL
• College for ALL
• Housing for ALL
• Justice for ALL

Honorable Mention:

• Toilet Paper for ALL 

I’ll leave that for you to answer…

Well, after having the opportunity to travel abroad to France for a month,  you’ve finally realized that America isn’t as advanced as we like to think. 

Remember that one time you’ve experienced using the bathroom for the first time in France?

After having your entire day being occupied from a day’s travel to France, you experienced what you sometimes like to call, a “candy shop” moment. 

Your eyes and brain were scrambling to understand the French derivatives of the Latin rooted words you knew with your slight knowledge of Spanish & Portuguese, attempting to find the Bathroom. 

Here’s what you looked like trying to figure out the word for Bathroom in ‘French’: (Baño + Banheiro = Salle de Bains)

You were suddenly immersed in a world where English was no longer important and American ignorance was no longer allowed. You finally found the bathroom, only to be confused about whether there was someone in there…

This was because back at home, in the States, whenever you saw a symbol like this:

It was a single-use bathroom unless stated otherwise. You felt like a fool, didn’t you?

It was actually a bathroom with 5 other stalls that had completely isolated rooms with toilets inside. I know, I know. You were slightly disappointed because you missed playing “Bathroom Peek-a-boo” with noisy people, NOT!

Wow, look at France combating an issue that Americans for some reason can’t deal with! Eliminating waste, or simply put, using the bathroom is something EVERYONE should have the right to do. No matter what gender you choose to identify. 

At the moment in time, you realized, “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Do you remember the time when you had a discussion about Healthcare with a French native?

So, as we know, America’s healthcare system is quite the mess and also VERY corrupt. Did you know that your favorite politician is most likely being paid by insurance companies just to be against ‘Medicare for All’? 

Today as we are in the middle of a virus outbreak, we struggle to adequately test individuals for the coronavirus, due to the lack of resources and facilities for testing! Really? America lacking resources?? 

By now there’s a commercial somewhere out in this world saying: “A dollar a day, would fix America’s healthcare disparities right away!” Please be on the lookout for that!

So, we’re stuck here, rationing testing and denying people for testing because, well, they’re not covered. But, doesn’t that make things worse? Imagine, if people can’t get testing for free, then imagine when there’s a vaccine available and only those who have insurance can get it. THAT doesn’t really help our issue…more like making it worse! 

Anyways, for your stay in France, you had the ‘opportunity’ to have someone serve as a host for you. After introducing yourself and telling your host about customs “back in the States”, you both somehow alluded to the topic of healthcare. Unfortunately, the host was an elderly retired lady, who had difficulty with seeing due to her cataract. For some reason, she didn’t seem phased by it either. She even casually slipped in that she would be getting her cataract removal done by ‘privately’. 

You were somewhat confused because you thought surgery was supposed to be private and that it was conducted in a private room, with no one else. (At that moment, you thought, we must be very privileged back in America.) BUT, that wasn’t what she was referring to. In fact, she was referring to private practice! She later cleared up that healthcare was available to EVERYONE and that if you wanted to, you have the ‘opportunity’ to go through a private practice to get your surgery done. For a moment, you thought she was just trying to rub it in your face. 

Wow, congratulations again to France for getting another thing right, while America JUST had passed a bill that recently allowed free testing for COVID19 countrywide! 

And can you believe there were only 40 people against it?

At the moment in time, you realized, again, “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Now, France doesn’t have ALL the answers. They do struggle with some of the same issues as America, like Housing and Justice for ALL. However, they do provide solutions to some of the issues that we face in America where individuals should have the ‘opportunity’ available. For instance, free college education and countrywide support for college students (student discounts/rates). Throughout my entire stay, I believe that being a student saved me a great amount of money when it came to spending. 

Yeah, I know. “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Why I’m writing this letter to you? I want you to be open to traveling around the world, again. I know you had your fair share of culture shock, but you shouldn’t let it stop you from bursting your ignorant American bubble and learn about other cultures and identities. Explore the opportunities available around the world!

Now let’s see if the French ‘hygiene tool’, the bidet, can become the solution to our toilet paper shortage!

Love,

Yourself