A Cross Cultural Analysis of Guatemala and the U.S (unfinished)

What’s the Difference?
A Cross Cultural Analysis of Guatemala and the U.S.A

Guatemala and the USA are two very different places.  However, they also both have similarities.  Both places have beautiful lands and lovely places.  Both places have a government, both places have people suffering.  Both Guatemala and the U.S both have rich people and poor people, both have teenagers just trying to make it and kids just trying to have a good time.

It’s the way that both countries individually handle their similarities that shows the difference between them.  What makes them different is that people of the U.S ignore me on the streets, while everyone in Guatemala says good morning.  What shows me the difference is when looking down on the city of Xela, I see many colored garments in place of the dark coats of Chicago. What highlights the difference is the fact that as a young woman in the U.S I have more options for my life than just a place in the kitchen and the role of a caregiver.

I see the difference between the two cultures when I look at the strength of the people in Guatemala.  They had to build everything they have.  They fought for it and worked for it and it’s theirs, and they plan to keep it that way.  In the U.S, I don’t see that same strength.  I see strength in most eyes, but it is a different kind.  It is the kind of strength that grows in a healthy way, over time.  The kind of strength that develops in a girl when she is told a million times by her parents, “You can do anything.”  It is the kind of strength that was allowed, accepted, grown.    

I see the difference between the cultures when I look at the sacred way tradition is held in Guatemala.  They hold onto their roots and are proud of them.  They want to be the culture who they have been for years, and with that comes a sacredness for what has already been done.  In America I see progress.  I see an upward pushing motion towards an unclear goal.  We keep moving upwards but the gap between here and the end is not closing, so where is it that we are going, exactly? In the way of America I see constant progress, and I wonder if maybe for a while we should go the Guatemalan way and just not worry about time.