So this is definitely an unpopular opinion--America isn't that great. In my perspective there are just places that are better, and safer than America. For example there are places such as Denmark, Sweden and Canada which seem to be much happier places than america from what I've read. There is an article that lists some of the happiest places on earth with America ranking 10, Canada six, Sweden five, and Denmark two. This spoke a lot to me because I as an American citizen don't see america as “great”. Women have to fight for their RIGHT to be equal along with every other person that isn't white, male and wealthy. The amount of gun violence here is extremely out of control, and the amount of poverty in this country is unbelievable. Now, you might be saying “hey, but poverty exists everywhere” well that much is true, but with that being said it is the most disturbing in America because there are as little as 500 people in america making well over what 60 percent of the country is making. Now tell me, is that where you wanna live? Because it's certainly not where I want to live- where I could be working so hard and still be in the lower class because the rich are just getting richer and the poor poorer. This is not in my moral compass, if America doesn't change itself i'm not going to reside in the states, at least no more than what is necessary.

Now let me tell you more about why I think this way. For a long time I thought everything was just fine here, until I became more educated. In the past two to three years, I've learned what feminism is, and that I am a feminist, what an economy is and why ours is corrupt, and about how our government really works. It opens your eyes when you learn new things, which is why I try my hardest to be as educated as possible and listen to others when I don't know what I'm talking about. I've learned that the way to become more educated is through an open mind and experience. I have learned a lot online for the most part and have actually found out my own personal beliefs differ from my parents, which is totally OK. One of the ways I came to find out that America wasn't as great as everyone said is when I traveled. Everywhere is so much more polite, so much more well-mannered.

The experience that has made its biggest impression on me is my two visits to Canada. The first time it was winter and me and my best friend went to visit a school in Canada- this was about a year ago. The second time was last summer when I went on vacation there with my dad and my best friend. The first thing that was very apparent to me was that people were a lot friendlier. But for the most part I saw little to no hostility in the time I was there, not even at places like the bank or the stores where people are normally rushing. Even in Toronto, a huge city, things were very laid back and it was an overall relaxed environment. Compared to New York City it wasn't only a more relaxed environment but a cleaner environment as well. As someone with asthma this made a difference because the air quality was so much better. After this amazing experience I had became more interested in Canada, and tried to become more educated. I read that Canada has guns more accessible than we do and have as many shootings/gun violence issues as we have in weeks, in over 20 years. This showed me how safe Canadians truly are. They have many things that make them safer as well, such as free health care and free transportation to hospitals in case of emergency. There government is also ran a lot better in my opinion because the prime minister has said they solve issues more upon trying to come to an agreement verbally and talking things out, rather than starting wars. These are some of the few reasons I believe that Canada is a much better and well-rounded country.