You kind of find insight about the nature of your country from the most unsuspecting sources.
Consider scotch tape and wrapping paper for example.
Here are two objects I used the other day and found to be highly indicative of just the way Americans do things…for the better this time…I guess. You see I was wrapping my Santy stuff and was doing my best to make it look professional with that pristine North Pole look we all expect from a gift beneath the tree, but it has never been an easy task for me, so I tend to struggle. And to think I teach art to elementary students this year.
To some, sticky plastic and shiny paper may be just two mere tools with which a person could escond a holiday surprise, but I noticed that there was more to them than just basic utility. They said something. At least the ones I had in my hand. First of all the tape was the classic plastic dispenser which has been a part of American life for as far as I could remember. In Spain they exist, but for some reason the Spanish don’t go for them very much. They still prefer the basic roll which, while plentiful in adhesiveness, makes wrapping a chore since you have to work outright miracles just to get the paper around the present without it looking like it was prepared by a penguin. So it was a nice change to work with an object that was user-friendly. But that was not what really caught my eye. It was the paper which had an entire grid of one inch-by-one inch squares on the back which I soon realized had been put there to help dunces like me cut out the paper with the right dimensions. There I was counting six blocks on each side of the 1000 Things You Should Eat Before You Die. This was just the kind of innovation that Americans are particularly good at. Someone came up with that idea and I am eternally grateful to them. And for this reason I would like to wish the good people ate Hallmark a very Merry Christmas!
