Perceptions

One of the lasting perceptions that folks overseas have of us is that we're really insanely pampered - and, well, I guess we are. Everywhere I go people are amazed that I might want to actually walk someplace or take the stairs. Granted, sometimes it's folks trying to make a dime by trying to get us to take the donkey or camel or elephant or taxi or auto-rickshaw rides, but you see it in other ways as well. When I was at the American University of Cairo today it was all I could do to convince my contacts there that I wouldn't wilt walking down one flight of stairs. Some of it relates that that amazing Middle Eastern sense of hospitality, but there's something deeper that relates to a perception that we're pretty soft (or that we have some sort of left-over colonial need to be taken care of).