Today’s back-to-America culture shock: going to the grocery store.
First, the place is HUGE - much bigger than it actually has to be. (Korean grocery stores have tons of food, but are much smaller affairs.)
Second - the choices!
Third - you can get anything you want, even if it’s out of season!
But I can’t help but think it’s a little over-the-top.
We have eighty five different selections of dish towels, but we don’t have basic healthcare provided for, like Korea and many other countries do.
While I love being able to get thirty seven different kinds of peanut butter in a jiffy, I don’t love the fact that going to the doctor is now out-of-the-question - whereas in Korea, and even Thailand, quality health care was so inexpensive.
When I made peanuts in a media job in NYC a few years back, I went to Planned Parenthood for basic health care needs, because it was on a sliding scale and affordable. Yet the catch-22 is that even PP access is now contentious - and dangerous. While the risk is relatively small, it makes me uncomfortable to think that a wellness exam is at the cost of being heckled by a gauntlet of old white men - and possibly violently.
I wonder about American tradeoffs.
