Happiness of Denial

New immigrants to the United States of America are often struck by how insistently sunny, cheerful and youthful Americans aspire to be. This touching naïveté in the end becomes annoying. Many new immigrants wondered when would these Americans grow up and face the reality. They do, alas, only through the Reality TV shows.

Recently, a writer friend of mine mentioned a culture phenomena in his blog Retreat to happiness, relating a story reported by a not always reliable newspaper, that many adults in the US are fleeing from serious themed novels and literature, and trying to find comfort in teenage literature. Though the original source is not reliable, I would rather believe in this reporting. The trend is obvious. Instant reward and satisfaction, easy fame, great sense of humor, things Americans treasure are mostly luxury in reality-based countries and cultures. The one here is the wonderland of group-hugs. Growing up? Not a chance. Both Bush and Obama have been adamant that we [the Americans] will not change our lifestyle, after the trauma of September 11 attack and economic meltdown. Only if it can be sustained.