People Share The Times America Set A Good Example (30 Posts)

You could say the idea for the post came to u/jenzredz quite gradually. "I was perusing Reddit and had come across a r/AskReddit about things Americans do that is weird," they told Bored Panda. "I like to read those because it's interesting to get an outsider's perspective on America and Americans. However, lately, I had come across quite a few 'weird things Americans do' or 'dumb things America does' and the like. I had also been reading several articles lately about American politics, which can be a depressing pastime. I decided to see what does America actually do right."

"I posed the question ... thinking I'd get a few answers, some uplifting but mostly snarky or 'nothing.' I was astounded at the response I got! Both in number and positivity. I even got a few messages telling me thank you. That they had been thinking and feeling the same way I had and was getting pretty down about being from America. That was a great feeling! Knowing others were feeling the same way I was and that I was able to brighten their day!"

Listing 101 great things about the United States, Fortune's editors mentioned many of the things that we see in this Reddit thread. From athletes, musicians, social activists to domestic beer, Fender, and NASA, they touched upon many subjects too.

After going through all of the comments under their post, u/jenzredz learned they "take for granted several things so many people around the world don't have access to or aren't allowed to experience, or at least not to the level we in America do."

"For instance, I didn't realize National and State Parks aren't really a thing in other countries. I thought everyone had those! Also our libraries and interstate systems. Again, I thought that was pretty universal. The most interesting thing is our First Amendment right to speak against our government. I was unaware how much of a privilege and to what degree of freedom we have to speak against our government and politicians. However, the thing I noticed the absolute most was the comments about our food! Our food diversity, availability, cost, etc. I had no idea we were pretty much the only country in the world to do bbq!," the Redditor explained.

All of this made u/jenzredz realize that Americans are doing much better than they give themselves credit for.

However, there is data that suggests life in America might be getting worse. The General Social Survey, one of the longest-running and most highly regarded public opinion research projects in the nation, reports that on a scale of 1 to 3, where 1 represents "not too happy" and 3 means "very happy," Americans on average give themselves a 2.18 — a hair above "pretty happy."

That might sound good but it's actually a significant decline from the nation's peak happiness, as measured by the survey, of the early 1990s. The change is driven by the number of people who say they’re not too happy — 13 percent in 2018 vs. 8 percent in 1990. That's a more than a 50 percent increase.