I just came back from an awesome, epic 2 week vacation in Asia. And yes, for us poor Americans, taken 12 days off work is a BIG deal. The last two days were in Bangkok (Thailand), a city that I desperately wanted to avoid in my trip planning based on some stereotypes and that unfortunate movie. On the last night, I was, as it tends to happen on vacations abroad, depressed. Depressed to be returning to the US. And also ashamed. Because apparently, it's possible to have modern, quiet trains that run every 3 minutes on the weekend, spotless mall food courts, really clean bathrooms, courteous security guards, streets without piles of trash and cat-sized rats. Even for a country with only 1/5 of our GDP per capita.

I get it, I see only the clean, polished side of Bangkok because of the privilege bought with my American dollars, but still, goddamn it, how come my vaunted American dollars can't buy me a clean sidewalk at home? Why can't we have nice things?

Every time I go abroad, I become less and less patriotic. Something is seriously wrong with American values, with our interaction and understanding of the public sphere. It's like we only value things which can be measured with money, and that is just... shameful.