Sorry! US! I try to use the words people will understand, and most people in other parts of the world also recognize America as being synonymous with USA. I agree with you though and so I try to use "the US" more and more.

It's a hard country to talk about if you try to have a balanced opinion. Many lives saved and many lives destroyed by the same country. I want to be able to praise the good things and also criticize the bad things but it's very hard to talk about the bad to someone who escaped persecution and came to The US and it's very hard to talk about the good to someone whose country's politics were complicated and economies demolished by political games, or by citizens who haven't played the capitalist game as well as others, or who have been dealt a bad hand.

This article felt very awkward for me, on the one hand it felt like I wasn't praising it enough for the former and on the other I felt like I was praising it far too much for the latter. In the end, I think it's just not balanced to have such strong nations, it becomes too hard to be objective about them, too easy to love, too easy to hate, too easy to justify, too easy to vilify.

My goal for cross culture is to make an environment where people feel free to criticize or praise any country or culture from their own perspective, but still listen respectfully and not attack people with different opinions and experiences. I hope it goes well!

Much love for South and Central American brothers and sisters as well as Mexicans and Canadian, I hope they can share their perspectives here and build some more understanding across the Americas. Thanks for participating! I'll read it today.