An important lesson learned after 8 years

I’m not ashamed to say that I consider myself a very nice, considerate, and tolerant person. I am capable of putting up with all kinds of nonsense and difficult persons and still feel no particular resentment. There is one thing, however, that really brought the worst out of me, and in this wonderful country called the United States, the people often force me to go out of my way, and especially my character, to be a bitch—annoying, whiny, obnoxious, aggressive—so that I can have even the slightest chance of getting what I rightfully deserve. It seems that, if I don’t squeak, I am certain to get no oil and am left there to just die. A lot of times, the things that I must fight for are rather “dumb”—they are stupid things that really should have never happened, but some Americans get so caught up in some sort of system that, eventually, the system triumphs over reason, logic, and common sense. And then shit happens. I guess, I really should thank America. It’s been almost eight years bonding with this country, and the biggest lesson I learned is if I don’t get what I want from certain people, then I must annoy the hell out of those people to the point that they have to deal with me. In the past, when I was still a good, obedient Chinese, I try not to make trouble to others and if the problem isn’t too serious, I would suck it up and digest it then poop it out of my system. But America has taught me how to be squeaky and not feel sorry about being so annoying to other fellow human beings at the same time, because here, if I don’t speak up for myself, I will never get what belongs to me. And even though this ugly side of America has had empowering effects in me, I wish for a society where I don’t have to complain to make the simplest things right—where people get paid US dollars to do real work using their brains—where people take responsibility and care for those anonymous others they’ve never met.