The american way of living comparied to the Swedish

Essay by dreams_dmHigh School, 12th gradeA+, June 2005

download word file, 10 pages 5.0

The American Way Of Living

Who is more likely to say: "I am big and I'm beautiful, and I'm going to make all my dreams come true"! The Americans or the Swedes?

How about: "Who do you think you are, don't you dare speak load about it"?

Let me tell you something about these two countries and answer these questions for you.

Countries have been created round people who live in a certain area and have the same language, culture and traditions. Some have been created by colonial powers and with few common values. Only one country in history has been created round some basic ideas, declarations of values like freedom and democracy. Others may have tried and the slogans are many in history, but no other country has created a constitution based on these ideas so powerfully and consistently. The Americans have been shaped in a society with different values and they have another view on life than the Swedes.

You see it in their lives in their individual thoughts and actions as well as in the bigger context, that which is the American society and the worlds only superpower.

The American constitutional fathers knew exactly what they wanted America to become and also not to become. Some values from the "Declaration of Independence" 1776 have guided the Americans ever since. Democracy, freedom and the right to "pursue happiness" are the most important values but not the only ones.

Some would argue that America changed after the 9/11 2001. Others claim that it never changed but instead became more itself. The attacks showed fundamental and significant differences between the US and other nations.

What we are seeing today is USA as it always has been or at least as they have seen themselves and their values as the "worlds...