[제 2회 드림에세이 수상작] Cha Yun - 'America in McDonald's'

Grade: 11 / High School: Torrance High School

Waiting in a line inside McDonald’s, I saw America.

I saw a white man with a leather jacket and a cowboy hat, a black woman talking on the phone with a loquacious, loud voice, a Hispanic girl with pungent odor of perfume, and myself with bright T-shirt and square glasses, looking at the picture of Big Mac and super-size fries. I also saw all the eyes of the people focused on hamburgers on the menu. Then I found this: Living in America is like going to McDonald’s—everyone, no matter how different from each other, is hungry for the same thing.

People in the line at McDonald's are very different. There are emos, peddlers, jocks, single mothers, students, hippies, and lots more. Similarly, the American society is very diverse. There are lots of people—perhaps people from every single nation in the world—represented in America. Moreover, they want different food, wear different cloth, act differently, and think differently. That these individuals have different ideas gives many varying viewpoints on society. For example, in my history class, I sit between Phillip, a white punk boy who wishes to be a varsity football player, and Esmeralda, a Hispanic girl who just do not stop talking about TV shows. While Michael thinks that America did a great job in gaining Mexican Territory in Spanish-American War, Esmeralda thinks that America was caught up with the ideas of world-domination and imperialism and did not righteously take the Mexican territory. Altogether, I could not find anything common among Phillip, Esmeralda, and me because we are very individual and independent of one another. But I realized there is one thing that binds all of us into one.

That one thing is the hunger—everyone at McDonald’s was hungry, and everyone wanted to get food. In real life, the hunger is the common goal of American dream. Everyone has own goal, and everyone wants to succeed. In my history class, for example, Phillip, Esmeralda and I always talk about how to get into college and how to get a great score in the SAT.

We share many strategies, test taking tips, and results, to improve our scores. We also talk about the solutions to today’s failing economy; after discussing many difficulties living in today’s world, we feel tightly bonded under surprisingly similar circumstance. Finally, we share different stories that led us to become who we are now, often with different information about our cultural background. And we made our point: no matter how different from each other we are united because we share the common goal to be successful. And united for success, we demand each other to supplement and encourage.

There we learned very important lesson—in order to cooperate, we needed to accept others’ background and be tolerant. Since America is made up of many representatives of various countries, we have to be tolerant to each other. From my history class, I learned that America went through many conflicts such as battles with Native Americans, Civil Rights movement, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and gay-lesbian problems.

I was surprised when I learned how many of these problems still exists in America; America was not a utopia. Shortly after, I changed my mind: though America is not a perfectly tolerant nation, it is amazing that these different people actually learn to cooperate and build one of world’s most stable societies. Moreover, America is the first nation to have a minority president, President Obama. These evidences definitely prove that we are living in a tolerant and open-minded nation. Then I finally realized that without tolerance of people, we cannot have individuality or united hope of better future.

Such depiction of America in McDonald's ultimately conveys the true value of American life. A wonderful and unique experience, living in America presents a unique taste and excitement. I learned that America, a united but individual, and strong but tolerant nation, is full of energy and hope. Although people condemn us for creating the McDonalidization of America—that we are in a nation which only thinks about efficiency and profit, perhaps it may gain a new meaning today: one that implies diversity, unity, and tolerance. And maybe the McDonaldization of America is not such a bad thing after all.