The way Americans behave may be, in the long run, not so much a question of their behavior or attitude, as much as how it is perceived by citizens of other countries. Many people around the world anticipate a certain arrogance in the American attitude because they truly believe that Americans “have it made.” Their resentment pretty much gives the American tourist a bad reputation before they even get off the plane.

Americans are proud of being Americans, or at least we always have been in the past. Whether your family came over in the 17th century, or yesterday, you are proud of the fact that you are now an American. If you are a newly sworn in citizen, you are especially proud, because you haven’t been born into this country, you chose it for yourself.

We’ve had good reason to be proud in the past. We’ve excelled in technology and manufacturing. We’ve invented and improved on more new ideas and products than most other countries. We’ve come to the aid of other nations in their times of trouble, and we’ve sacrificed our own in foreign wars. We have, for the most part, built our country on a certain set of values and fought to keep them.

We built a country, not based on any other concept but the one we created ourselves. And we succeeded in maintaining it, in spite of the interference and military might of other countries.

We are, however, a country isolated from other countries overseas. European countries, in spite of their differences, see themselves as a unit where languages, customs and interests often overlap. America, however, by virtue of it’s location, has been set apart and considered different and more alien. When new citizens come to this country, they may bring with them their native customs and language, but they soon melt into the American way of life.

Regardless of how accepting, respectful and enthusiastic Americans are when they go out into the world, we are often considered, “those rich Americans”, by other countries. The old concept that America is the land of milk and honey, and that everyone in America is better off than anywhere else in the world, is a hard myth to dispel.

Of course there are arrogant Americans, just as there are certainly arrogant Frenchmen, and Englishmen, but these are personal more than national characteristics. The bottom line is that as Americans, just as with any individual person, we shouldn’t be rude. However, as Americans, we can still be proud, and we needed apologize for that pride any more than any other citizen of any other country need apologize for their own.