10 Good Things about Americans - From an Indian perspective

My Own Personal Experience With Americans

In the year 2014, I got a chance to travel to the United States of America on a work visa. I landed in Columbus, Ohio. From then till October 2021 I had a very memorable and exciting experience while living there. I must say I was fortunate that I could travel there, lived there for a considerable span of time, got to know so many things from the country, traveled to different places in the US, and had many such beautiful experiences.

For me, 7.5 yrs is sufficient to know and get the feel of what the country is all about, its culture, history, people, and tradition. As I have a penchant to learn about new things, places, and people. I spent substantial time studying, observing, and reading about them.

Today I am going to write about 10 good things about the American people. These points are completely based on personal experience and observation. These may vary from person to person. These are not generalized points.

1 .Bold, Brave, and Confident

Americans are bold, brave and confident. Yes, I love them for these facts. They are straight on to your face. They won’t hesitate to say anything if it is bothering them in their mind. They raise their voices whenever necessary in proper platforms.

If you talk to any school-going kid, you will get to know they are clear about what they are talking about. It is seeded right from their childhood to speak up against the bad, to appreciate the good.

2. Civic Sense

They have good civic sense. It has been observed that almost everyone shows responsible behavior towards the society they live in. They always strive for the upliftment of the localities. They are very passionate about keeping the surroundings neat and clean. Helping each other in the community is their ritual.

I like them for obeying society rules, traffic rules and maintaining a healthy atmosphere to live in. I have been to many public places and I found that in most of the places, people do not litter. They have that sense of responsibility towards the places they belong.

3. Independent

Yes, they are independent, very very independent. From a kid to elderly, I have seen that everyone can do their own activities by themselves. Society has grown up like this. The way parents encourage their kids to do their work whenever possible is really a great thing. After 18 yrs , most of the high school kids have the choices to lead an independent life. That is a little bit awkward for people from India. But I understand it’s their way of life.

I have seen how elderly people do their work by themselves with no complaints. We had a neighbor who was 78 yrs old then. To our surprise, she used to take care of the entire community. She used to take different work requests from the residents and also used to organize community events alone. We were quite mesmerized to see the agile and active lady in her. I even saw her going to the nearest gym driving the car alone even on the coldest day of the season. Isn’t it inspiring? That’s why the country is what it is now.

4. Full of life

Americans are full of life. They know how to live life to the fullest. Whatever they do, be it vacation, party, work, family, they do it to their full capacity. An elderly lady at my work impressed me a lot. When in one of the team events at work, she mesmerized the entire audience by her super graceful dance. I appreciated her and said that I liked her full of life dance. She replied “Honey, we have one life and we have to enjoy it to the hilt.” I respect their philosophy.

Because of the vibrant life energy, they can utilize their time in games, music, work and can maintain a balanced life. I have seen so many fellow travelers enjoying their vacation without worrying much about their ongoing life.

5. Dedication and Honesty

Americans are dedicated and honest in a real sense. Most of the people I met and interacted with were super dedicated to what they do. At work, in their study, with kids they are super committed and honest. I had many colleagues who never spent time in unnecessary activities while at work. Honesty is their great trait.

Their study, research and in turn the work they do are so methodological and systematic that the result and outcome are bound to be near to perfect. I used to observe even the maintenance workers passionate about their work and do it diligently. Amazingly knowledgeable and professional. On the contrary, there are few people I saw who were completely opposite.

6. Discipline

This is one of the best qualities of Americans. Everything they do , they do it in a disciplined manner. This trait is observed all around in society. School going students maintain proper discipline, office colleagues maintain discipline. Hospitals, corporation workers, employees in shop counters, govt offices maintain rules and orders. Cars are driven in a systematic way.

When I looked around, it seemed to me, everything was so systematic. This quality of life was prominent when we visited tourist places.

7. Fun and friendly

Yet another usually ignored but impactful quality of Americans which I had experienced exchanging my thoughts and during conversations. They are very friendly in nature. Most of them do not discriminate based on your race, gender and ethnicity. We were so much impressed with the school teachers, swimming coach and other extra curricular activity teachers and their bonding and relation with the kids and students. Even at the workplace, a very senior guy mingles with a junior guy and vice versa.

They never miss any chance to greet people on the road, public places etc. An exchange of beautiful smiles can make your day beautiful, I learnt it from them. Some people have a real good sense of humor and they usually share it during conversation, speeches and even sometimes in official email communication.

8. Learning and research based.

Learning ability in Americans is great. Because they are methodological, systematic and disciplined as I stated above, it shows up in their learning attitude as well. Most of their studies are research based and deep into the subject. These could be some of the reasons for why there are so many innovations happening in the country over the last many decades.

I have a friend in Columbus, Ohio who has dedicated his life to learning Indian classical music. His commitment to learn Indian instruments and music is so inspiring that many of our common friends are getting inclined to it. He always feels he is still a learner. That is the core reason for a person to grow while learning any subject.

9. Work ethics

I found Americans maintaining a very healthy work ethics in the office environment. They appreciate their colleagues’ achievement and keep less complexities among themselves. They celebrate individual and team success with full zeal and enthusiasm. They make sure their work environment is healthy and fun filled.

They value employee’s personal problems. They work with full dedication in working hours and rest of their time, they spend for themselves and their families. That is how a proper work life balance is maintained.

10. Multitalented

Americans develop multiple skills right from their childhood. Because they are independent in nature, they keep acquiring skill sets all along their walks of life. Over a period of time, one develops multiple talents and performs different activities in different times of their life.

I know many colleagues who have atleast 2–3 additional talents in music, sports, art, drama or any such activities which happen to be their hobbies as well.

The above 10 points are just my personal observation from my short and sweet stint in the U.S. In any neighborhood, society, country, there are good people and there are not so good people. But we must look at the positive sides of people and I found most of the Americans have more positive traits and values than the negatives.

We all know how many generations shed their sweat to the ground to make the country the greatest in recent times. Because of their good qualities, the world has experienced many technological innovations and advancement. I really hope upcoming generations of America learn these good traits from their previous generations and adhere to their value system.