Not Enough (great blog post by expat in UK re: Second Amendment) [View all]

[OneGrassRoot]

http://yankeeinyorkshire.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/not-enough/


Not Enough.
Posted on July 21, 2012

Once in a great while I find myself pining for my native land.

I miss the sense of space. The way you can drive for miles on straight roads where the only variation in the scenery is the swapping of cornfields for soybean fields. I miss the wide stretches of sky. I miss the energy of a young country exploring its cultural identity separate from her parent society. A country still trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to be when she grows up. I miss front porches and screen doors that slap you in the ass if you don’t get out quick enough. Also root beer. Then something like Aurora, Colorado happens and that screen door smacks me in the face.

When my Yorkshire high school students learn I am American, one of the first questions they ask me is “Did you live in Florida?” followed quickly by “Do you own a gun?” Their voices express horrified fascination at the idea their teacher might know her way around a firearm or even have one she could produce at any given time. If I were a lesser person I would use these prejudices to my advantage. I am sure classroom management would be easier if my pupils believed I kept a handgun in my desk drawer.

Once the topic of guns comes up in serious conversation, horrified fascination generally morphs into derisive confusion. They don’t really understand why Americans want/need to own guns. Being from a rural community, many of them have hunted with rifles—usually birds—but they just don’t grasp gun ownership on an American level.

MORE: http://yankeeinyorkshire.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/not-enough/