Lets talk about France

as the year comes to a close and I think about what the most annoying thing about 2003 was, it always comes back to France bashing, how they took the hit for just about every other non-"coalition" country, all 140 of them. It still aggravates me to the point where it turns me against average Americans sometimes, when its really always been the American government I've had issues with and how they and the media will whip the public into a frenzy... So I saw this on a different message board and thought it was thoroughly appropriate. We are very "French", we Americans! 1) We think "we are the best!"...just like the French. 2) We think eveyone should speak "English" just like the French think everyone should speak "French". 3) We are fiercely nationalistic in our love for our country....so are the French in their zealous love for their home. 4) We imagine that we have the best standard of living in the world....so do the French. 5) We think our schools provide the best education....so do the French. 6) We think the world would be a better place if more people could be like us...so do the French. Here's a true story that will illustrate exactly what I'm trying to get at: A few years ago when I was on my way back home from France, I saw a very well dressed and very polite French gentleman approach a cowboy in the Houston Airport. He asked "Parlez vous Francaise?" And the cowboy looked at him in disgust, put his big fists on his hips, spread his legs wide apart and bellowed...."Listen here buddy! You're in America now...and in America we speak American...O.K.?!" The cowboy turned on the heels of his cowboy boots and stomped away, mumbling as he went. The poor Frenchman looked confused so I approached him, and said "See...we are just like the French! You should feel right at home here!" He laughed, relaxed his shoulders and shrugged and said..."C'est vrai. We are very much alike." Americans claim French people are rude to them when they visit France because they will not speak English to them. How many Americans have you ever seen speak French to a French visitor in our country? One or two maybe if you're lucky. And I must confess the French are much more agreeable in this regard and will speak English with you if you ask them politely most of the time, unless they never took English in school. After traveling throughout Europe and Great Britain, I found that the French were the most like us....happy, proud, relaxed, fiercely independent, glad to live where they lived and absolutely sure that they lived in the "best country on earth"! How American....how typically us!!