nmah5425.xml

nmah5425.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-03

When my wife and I were married in New Zealand in September 2000, she wanted to visit New York and Washington DC. We came in December of that year, and took so many pictures...

On the morning of 12-Sep-2001, we awoke much as usual and turned on the TV news. There was nothing in New Zealand about any of the events. The morning news website said "Plane crashses into WTC --- 6 people dead."

After I got to work around 7:30AM NZDT (GMT-13), I cruised MSNBC, as usual, and found out what was going on. It was now six hours later, and neither the New Zealand Media nor Government felt the need to inform anyone.

The news started to become mainstream about that time. Shortly before 8AM NZDT (GMT-13), the company accountant showed up. The first thing out of her mouth was, "Did you hear what happened? Your dollar is just flattened!"

I attempted to correct her callousness by saying, "We don't think like that in the US. We're more worried about the tragic loss of life!"

She wouldn't hear it, as she was too busy going off on a tirade about how great the New Zealand economy would benefit.

When everyone else showed up at work, no one said anything. I sat, most of the day, shell-shocked, watching the footage. I called my wife, and told her what was going on.

After work that afternoon, we listened to the radio on the way home. Callers were absolutely callous. "Yeah, I figure the Yanks brought it on themselves." "Who cares? It doesn't affect us." "Our dollar will be stronger against the bloody greenback."

On the evening news, Prime Minister Helen Clark came on to say "So what? It doesn't affect New Zealand, and we have nothing to say. It's a US problem, and we have nothing to do with it." Not a condolence, not a prayer.

In the ensuing month, as President Bush asked for the world to stand by America in its time of need, Mrs. Clark proceeded to make crass statements about America attempting to "overpower" everyone with their "crusade." She continuously stated that she would *not* help the US, nor stand beside it, in its fight for terrorism.

With her continuous bad-mouthing of the US, her people started to follow. It got to the point that I couldn't even buy a pack of cigarettes without having to listen to minutes and minutes of anti-American drivel.

At that point, we made the decision to leave New Zealand as soon as possible.

With all the Government-sponsored Anti-American sentiment in New Zealand, my wife and I decided to say "To Hell with this place!" and moved back the United States.

The thing is, neither of us were afraid of physical violence there ... but people there have no qualms about voicing their baseless opinions about how much they hated us "snotty Yanks." It soon became nearly impossible for me to restrain some rather violent intentions towards the daily purpetrators of what can only be described as Government-sponsored anti-Americanism.

When someone walks up to you, for no apparent reason, and calls you a "f#&*ing yank," and asks you "Why don't you just go home?" over and over, it's hard to restrain yourself.

My wife and I now have a great life in Washington, DC. We live in a bug-free house, with screen windows and toilets in the bathroom. We have more than four television stations, and an internet connection faster than 128K. People are friendly and helpful, and there's astoundingly less bureaucracy. We can go shopping at 5PM, even on a weekday, and can eat good food again.

I took a lot of things for granted before I left the US. It was a shock to realize what low standards so much of the rest of the world lived in.

I grew up thinking that most people in the world were basically good. But after being in New Zealand, a supposedly First World nation, it's become very apparent that this was false. Hopefully, the US will get wise to Prime Minister Helen Clark's anti-American rhetoric.