America in the Eyes of an Easterner, Or Eight Years in the United States (1924)

Abstract

The first thing that attracts your attention as a visitor to America is how extremely lively Americans are. The minute you arrive by boat in New York, the U.S. port, you will be greeted with the sight of a series of skyscrapers on the horizon, tall buildings with 50 or 60 floors.You will feel as though you have arrived in a country whose inhabitants are giants among men. When you enter the city and walk among the people, you will be struck by how eager Americans are to go to their work, how quick their pace is, and how active and energetic they are. You will then realize that you are not in a country like others, and you are not among a people like others, but rather among a people superior in their qualities, distinguished in their vitality, and unique in their abundance of energy. The matchless skyscrapers, the quick pace of life, the ability to focus on one’s work, are none other than manifestations of the dynamism of a nation that is full of youth and pulsating with tremendous energy.