Americans are used to living in a world of prohibitions and instructions
In May, police found him lying in a city park drunk and completely naked. But it wasn't just that that made American law enforcement put handcuffs on him. Next to Booth lay an open can of beer that he had not hidden in a bag. Drinking is not prohibited in America. But having an open can of beer without hiding it in a bag is not allowed. This rule would seem absurd to anyone, but not to Americans. After all, their life, as the correspondent of 'Novye Izvestiya' in the US became convinced, is a continuous following of established rules, sometimes very peculiar.
The correspondent of 'NI' was repeatedly forced to experience the scrupulous commitment of Americans to following all kinds of instructions through his own unfortunate experience. One time in broad daylight I approached a police car, keeping my hand in my jacket pocket out of an old bad habit. Unexpectedly, almost like in a Hollywood action movie, a policeman jumped out of the car and shouted 'Freeze!' aiming his gun at me.
Finding out that I was a foreigner who just wanted to ask for directions, the officer softened. He explained his strange, from a Russian point of view, behavior: there is a chance that a person keeping a hand in a pocket might pull out a gun. Yes, that happens very rarely. But a policeman in such a situation is simply obliged – just in case – to take aim at the strange passerby.
Americans are generally very compassionate people, always ready to help. But once when my car broke down, I hitched for an hour without success. Finally, a policeman came up to me, who, as it turned out, was called by passing motorists. It turned out that there is an instruction not to stop for hitchhikers on the highway. Indeed, there are, though not often, cases where hitchhikers robbed drivers. However, Americans prefer not to expose themselves to even the slightest risk and follow safety rules.
A person who decides to ride a bike without a helmet is looked upon here, without exaggeration, as a kamikaze. Well, there is common sense in this precaution. But why there are as many as two lifebuoys hanging in my residential complex's pool with a depth of one meter, I find hard to understand. This cannot be explained by American cowardice: they cannot be called timid guys. Rather the opposite, here in everyday life you can easily see something that you couldn't even imagine in a nightmare in Russia.
Thus, in my presence, local teenagers, including girls, jumped into the water from a 15-meter cliff. Such entertainment is not uncommon in the US. Extreme sports (motorcycle racing, mountaineering, rock climbing) are much more popular here than in Russia. Americans willingly take risks, but try to eliminate any unjustified, as they say here, 'stupid danger'.
My age is well over forty, and only a blind or clearly inadequate person could mistake me for a teenager. Nevertheless, every time I buy cigarettes, the seller asks for my passport and carefully studies my date of birth. To my ironic exclamations, the vendors invariably reply with dignity: 'The law is the law!'
Once I did manage to provoke a Yankee into breaking instructions. At a shop in a mountain hotel, I decided to buy a bottle of wine and drink it in my room. Unfortunately, I didn't have a corkscrew. The hotel did not have a bar license, and therefore the saleswoman had no right to open the alcohol for me. Nevertheless, the kind girl gave me a bottle opener. All the hotel employees gathered to watch the 'terrible crime.' When I finished my 'dark deed,' everyone sighed with visible relief: the customer is satisfied, and the 'crime' no longer defiles the walls of the establishment.
However, to understand Americans' love of rules and prohibitions, you don't even have to talk to them. It's enough just to drive through any city. The number of prohibitory signs here is several times higher than in Russia.
Is it good or bad that Americans' lives are governed by instructions? More correctly, such a system has not only disadvantages but also significant advantages. You know exactly what you can do in a particular place and what you cannot. A person is protected from unintentional violation of the law. In the US, for example, it's easy to drive a car without knowing the rules: the signs themselves tell you how to act in a given situation.
Igor ROTAR.
