你后悔離開美國嗎？(二)

K A
Not for a second.
I’m in my late 30’s now. I first left the US at 22, when I went to live in Europe with my girlfriend. Things didn’t work out, but during that time, I realized that life outside the US was actually preferable to me in many ways.
I later left for Asia, and lived for more than a decade there. I had a great life, full of travel, adventure, and great experiences with great people.
Meanwhile, my old friends were back home sitting in cubicles whiling their lives away. Over time, we sort of lost the ability relate to one another.
I’ll be an expat at heart for the rest of my life and have no desire to relocate back to the US. I may be forced to at some point (for instance, to take care of aging parents), but in that case I will return solely out of duty.

我絕不會有片刻的后悔。
我現(xiàn)在三十多歲快四十了。我22歲時第一次離開美國，那時我和女友一起去歐洲生活。雖然我們的關(guān)系沒有維持下去，但在那段時間里，我意識到在很多方面，美國以外的生活更適合我。
后來我搬到了亞洲，在那里生活了十多年。我的生活非常精彩，充滿了旅行、冒險和與許多優(yōu)秀人士在一起的美好時光。
與此同時，我的老朋友們卻在美國的家里，坐在小隔間里，過著日復(fù)一日的生活。隨著時間的推移，我們逐漸失去了彼此的共鳴。
我這輩子都會是一個內(nèi)心向往異國他鄉(xiāng)的人，我沒有任何想要搬回美國的意愿。我可能在某個時刻被迫回去（比如，為了照顧年邁的父母），但如果真的到了那一天，我回去也只是為了盡責(zé)。

Live And Let Live
Enjoy your current status but don't overly knock your native country. You don't have to hate your native country to love your adopted nation: you can love both!! This is what I have to say to people in your current situation.
Regardless of how much better your newfound nation or state or city is, your heart is big enough to love both your current and native areas.
There is no heaven on earth: everywhere has things going for it and things to improve upon. Don’t completely write any culture or people or place off, especially because you have found somewhere you think is better.
Do you!!

活出自我，也要讓別人活出自我。
享受你現(xiàn)在的狀態(tài)，但不要過分貶低你的祖國。你不必為了愛你的第二故鄉(xiāng)而討厭你的祖國：你可以同時愛兩個地方！這就是我想對處于你這種情況的人說的話。
無論你的新國家、新州或新城市有多好，你的心都足夠?qū)拸V，可以同時愛你現(xiàn)在的地方和你的祖國。
世上沒有完美的天堂：每個地方都有它的優(yōu)點和需要改進(jìn)的地方。不要因為你找到了一個你認(rèn)為更好的地方，就完全否定任何文化、人或地方。
做你自己??！

And the Igbo people of Nigeria say, “Whenever someone wakes up, is the person’s morning”. And “l(fā)ife is like going to the supermarket, when you fill up your cart as much as you want/need/ can afford, you head to the checkout counter where you pay for your decisions”. Live your life as you see fit.
The above paragraph is my English translation of Igbo language adages.
Good luck with your travels! No need to implied those left in America are ignorant or “whiling away”.

尼日利亞的伊博人有句諺語：“每當(dāng)有人醒來，那就是那個人的早晨”。還有一句諺語說：“生活就像去超市，當(dāng)你把購物車裝滿你想要的、需要的或能負(fù)擔(dān)得起的東西時，你就去收銀臺，為你的選擇買單”。按照你自己認(rèn)為合適的方式去生活。
上面的段落是我對伊博諺語的英文翻譯。
祝你旅途愉快！沒有必要暗示留在美國的人是無知的或在“虛度光陰”。

It is honorable of you to think about returning to take care of your aging parents “out of duty”. Since you did not mention any about your own family, who is going to take care of you when you get old if you don't settle down and establish your own family either abroad or in the States? Unless you are independently wealthy, how are you going to fund your own retirement and medical care?
Finally, America is a wonderful country, granted no place is perfect.
I both my native country and the United States of America

你考慮到出于責(zé)任回去照顧年邁的父母，這是值得尊敬的。既然你沒有提到你自己的家庭，如果你不在國外或美國定居并建立自己的家庭，誰會在你年老時照顧你呢？除非你非常富有，否則你將如何為自己的退休和醫(yī)療保健提供資金？
最后，美國是一個了不起的國家，當(dāng)然，沒有地方是完美的。
我既熱愛我的祖國，也熱愛美利堅合眾國

Within 24 hours of my original post, this American couple published the following BusinessInsider article:
I moved from the US to Germany and the UK. I love Europe, but it's not the utopia Americans think it is.
Helene Sula shared how monetizing her blog enabled her to move to Europe, offering insights on the realities of living abroad.
https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-from-us-uk-germany-europe-not-utopia-travel-2024-8

在我最初發(fā)帖的24小時內(nèi)，這對美國夫婦發(fā)表了以下《商業(yè)內(nèi)幕》文章：
我離開了美國去了德國和英國。我熱愛歐洲，但它并不是美國人想象中的烏托邦。
海倫·蘇拉分享了她如何通過將她的博客變現(xiàn)而搬到歐洲，提供了關(guān)于在國外生活現(xiàn)實的見解。
鏈接

Lucas Alexander
It’s always the immigrants that step to the plate to defend America.
Coming to America to take part in the opportunities of America is not the same as being an American who was born there.
Going to other cultures, as an American, and seeing the difference between cultures, makes you see what America is lacking and how Americans are propagandised.
You can get similar high standard, and safer places to live in for cheaper prices than in America. With less superficiality, egotistical mindset, and more culture and people who aren’t as selfish.

總是移民們挺身而出，捍衛(wèi)美國。
來到美國追求機(jī)會，與在美國出生的美國人是兩回事。
作為美國人去體驗其他文化，見識文化差異，會讓你意識到美國缺少什么，以及美國人是如何被宣傳所誤導(dǎo)的。
你可以在比美國價格更便宜的地方找到同樣高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)、更安全的居住環(huán)境，那里的人不那么膚淺、不以自我為中心，文化更豐富，人們也更不自私。

Jay Dell
I’m in the opposite place as you describe. Born in California but have now travelled something like 300,000 miles and lived outside of the USA for 8 years. In the last 4–5 years I would say my appreciation of the USA has gone up enormously. I appreciate how things more or less work in the USA. I appreciate that there are systems in place for upward mobility. I appreciate the freedom to fail and the encouraging attitude to try new things. The level of individualism that we have in the USA is incredible. There are seriously advanced Countries out there right now that would ostracize you from society for having an individual thought. Forget about thinking differently in a conformist mindset Country.

我的情況和你描述的完全相反。我出生在加利福尼亞，但現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)旅行了大約30萬英里，并且在美國以外的地方生活了8年。在過去的4到5年里，我對美國的欣賞大大增加了。我或多或少地欣賞美國的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)方式，欣賞有系統(tǒng)支持社會流動，欣賞有失敗的自由和嘗試新事物的鼓勵態(tài)度。我們美國人的個人主義程度令人難以置信。有些非常發(fā)達(dá)的國家會因為你有獨(dú)立思想而將你排斥在社會之外。在一個墨守成規(guī)的國家里，忘記不同的想法吧。

If you want that then move to the USA. I even appreciate all the political fighting going on in the USA right now compared to several Countries I was in this year where everyone looks the same, talks the same, and has no idea how socially behind they are. I’ve also been privileged to see that the rest of the world is just as stupid as the USA. I used to think other Countries were smarter and more sophisticated than we were, especially European Nations. That idea is long in the rear view mirror now because I have actually travelled multiple times to about 30 Countries on that Continent often spending 3+ months at a time and I can tell you that not one Country on earth has more advanced people.

如果你想要與眾不同，那就搬到美國來。我甚至欣賞美國目前的政治斗爭，相比之下，今年我去過的一些國家，人們看起來都一樣，說話都一樣，并且不知道他們在社會上有多落后。我也有幸看到，世界其他地方和美國一樣愚蠢。我曾經(jīng)認(rèn)為其他國家比我們更聰明、更精致，尤其是歐洲國家。但那個想法現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)拋在腦后了，因為我實際上已經(jīng)多次到那個大陸上的大約30個國家旅行，經(jīng)常一次待上3個月以上，我可以告訴你，沒有一個國家的人是比地球上的任何其他國家的人更高等的。

There are dumb, racist, sexist, ignorant, close minded, low IQ, low EQ people in every Country on the planet. Guaranteed you would see that more if they had the population size that the USA does. The USA is not the furthest behind on every issue. There are EU Countries that are way further behind socially. I was in a few Countries this year that felt like California in the 90’s with the things that were socially acceptable to say at the dinner table. I know that if I was a woman, black, any other sexuality other than boring old hetero, or identified as any other gender other than boring old cisgender I would have a much better life in California over many other 1st world Countries on every Continent including some of the EU Countries.

地球上的每一個國家都存在著愚蠢、種族歧視、性別歧視、無知、思想封閉、智商低、情商低的人。我敢保證，如果這些國家有像美國那樣的人口規(guī)模，這些問題會更加明顯。美國并不是在每個問題上都落后。實際上，有些歐盟國家在社會問題上比美國落后得多。今年我訪問的一些國家，感覺就像回到了90年代的加利福尼亞，那時在餐桌上可以公開討論一些社會上普遍接受的話題。我知道，如果我是女性、黑人、非異性戀者，或者性別認(rèn)同不是傳統(tǒng)的順性別，我在加利福尼亞的生活會比在其他許多第一世界國家，包括一些歐盟國家，要好得多。

That doesn’t mean all places are bad over there and doesn’t mean all places are great in the USA. There are some horrible places in the USA. I used to be extremely negative on the UsA. I really didn’t see much good. Then I got out there and saw reality. There isn’t some magical place that is X amount of times better. It’s actually pretty dang good in the USA even with the problems which by the way every Country has. We don’t all have the same problems but we all have problems. I’m thankful for the USA after traveling. When I travel now I get bored very easily listening to people from around the world talk smack about the UsA. It’s not for having negative things to say either which are often motivated by jealousy or schadenfreude.

這并不意味著那里的所有地方都不好，也不意味著美國的所有地方都好。美國有一些可怕的地方。我曾經(jīng)對美國非常消極。我真的沒有看到太多好處。然后我出去看到了現(xiàn)實。沒有一個神奇的地方比美國好X倍。即使有問題，美國實際上也非常好，順便說一句，每個國家都有問題。我們存在的問題并不是都一樣，但我們都有問題。旅行后我感謝美國?，F(xiàn)在我旅行時，我很容易感到無聊——聽世界各地的人談?wù)撁绹膲脑?。這并不是因為說些負(fù)面的話，而是因為這些話往往是出于嫉妒或幸災(zāi)樂禍。

If you are informed and intelligent enough to have a credible critique of the USA I will be very impressed with you no matter where you are from. It’s because of how misinformed everyone is. Of how unaware even intelligent people sound when they rattle off propaganda. Or how they don’t really have a grasp of the size of the USA and make direct comparisons to a Nation 1/10 the size in population with 1/500th of the GDP that could all fit in the State of Ohio.

如果你的見識和智慧足以讓你對美國提出有根據(jù)的批評，無論你來自何方，我都會對你刮目相看。這是因為許多人都受到了錯誤信息的影響。即使是聰明人，在復(fù)述宣傳話語時也顯得毫無察覺?；蛘咚麄兏緵]有意識到美國的龐大規(guī)模，卻將其與人口只有美國1/10、GDP只有美國1/500的國家進(jìn)行直接比較，這些國家的總?cè)丝谏踔量梢匀堪仓迷诙砗ザ碇荨?/b>